Out of Time
by C.C. Red
Summary: After finding a cure for the animals, there was a plane crash, causing the team to lose not only the cure but a member of their team. With the animals still hellbent on destroying mankind the team moves on to find the next cure for the animals, in time to keep Reiden Global's plan to eradicate the animals. A continuation of Loving a Safari Guide. I don't own the main characters
1. Reuniting

It's been about three months since the plane crash, in which we lost not only Jamie but the cure as well. Over these past few months I've watched Jackson slip in and out of sanity, he had been recording video logs much like this father did before he died. He and I had been working with Chloe and a US government program to help find another cure, but it wasn't going well. Abe went to work for an escort company, provided safe travel to people in Washington and I'm not sure what Mitch is up to. After the crash, he went into hiding. Almost all hope seemed lost when a multinational team of crisis managers was brought in, after which Jackson and I believed we would quickly be shown the door.

It was late one night and I had spent my evening curled up on the couch with a book. Jackson walks in from the bedroom after changing out of his work clothes. "What are you doing?"

"Just reading," I comment, not looking up from the book, "It's the only thing that makes me feel normal anymore."

Jackson sits next to me and wraps an arm around my shoulders, as he does I shift so that I'm leaning against him. "I get it, it's hard to feel normal in this crazy world. But we will find another way to cure the animals."

As the two of us cuddle up we hear a loud bang coming from the next apartment. Jackson jumps up and steps over to the door, "I'll be right back."

I nod and take a deep breath as Jackson leaves our apartment, closing the door behind him. When he does the phone goes off and I answer. "Hello?"

On the other end, I hear Chloe's voice. "Kat, hi. Our team in Zambia they found the leopards again."

"That's great."

"We can start working on the cure tomorrow morning."

"That's amazing news Chloe, I'll tell Jackson and we'll see you in the morning."

"I'll see you then."

As I hang up the phone Jackson pokes his head back into the apartment, "Hey, I'm gonna run out and get a refill for Goldy's medication since he can't leave."

"Jackson, Wait."

"What's up?" He steps into the apartment, wearing Goldy's bike gear.

"Chloe just called, they got the leopard and are being it back."

"Then we need to celebrate when I get back. I'll pick up a sixer when I'm out."

"We still need to find a way to spread the cure to the animals."

"We will don't worry," Jackson walks over to me and kisses me softly.

I kiss him back and nod, "be safe."

"I will. I love you."

"I love you too."

Jackson's head's out and I sit back down on the couch, Goldy was our next door neighbor who had been attacked and lost his legs. Since the elevator doesn't work, he can't get in and out so Jackson and I help him as much as we can. When he does the phone goes off again and it is Chloe, again.

"Hello."

"Kat, Reiden has proposed a plan called the Noah Objective, they want to eliminate all the animals and repopulate the planet."

"That's ridiculous. The animals kingdom would collapse even more than it already has and either way we would face mass extinction."

"I know, so we need to make sure they don't get the chance."

With that Chloe and I hang up. It doesn't take long for Jackson to get back to the apartment, maybe about an hour, but now that is all too long for me, with all the animals running around out there. In he is out of Goldy's bike gear and had a six-pack in his hand.

"Hey, baby."

I smile at him and take a deep breath, "Glad to see you're back in one piece."

"Well, if a bullet didn't stop me, I think it'll take more then a few dogs and a baboon."

"A baboon?"

"Yeah." Jackson chuckles as he sits the six-pack on the counter and pulls me close to him. As he does he puts his hands on my hips and kisses me deeply. I kiss him back and place my hands on his shoulders.

"Jackson… Reiden has proposed an alternate plan…"

I try to tell Jackson about Reiden's plan but he is in no mood to hear it. I try to talk as he kisses down my neck. "We can worry about Reiden tomorrow, right now, let's celebrate today's victory." With this, he picks me up and puts me on the island in the kitchen.

I giggle softly and wrap my arms around his neck as we kiss. Sadly, our embrace is interrupted by a knock on our door. Jackson stops and leans his forehead against mine and whispers, "Shh…maybe they'll think we're not home."

We wait for a few moments before hearing another knock on the door, Jackson sighs as he steps away from me and answers the door, as he does I get off the counter and grab a beer out of the sixer Jackson brought home. When I look back over I see Abe walk into the apartment, as he does I smile at him, walking over to get over to him, giving him a hug.

"Abe, hey."

"Hey Kat. I'm sorry to stop by so late."

"Don't be silly Abe, you're always welcome."

Jackson nods and pats Abe his shoulder as the two of them over to opposite sides of the island, I stay at the end of it. Abe smile at Jackson and I. "what have you two been up to?"

Jackson nods his head, "It's over. They found the remaining leopards. They've been contaminated. We're done here."

I nod, "They're talking about this cull. Have you heard about it?"

Abe nods, "Of course, the goons where I work, they're all eager to join up."

I sigh, "It's insanity. But I suppose why shouldn't man contribute to their own demise, right?"

"They've been doing it since the dawn of time." Abe and I look over to Jackson as he makes this comment, "Oh, just I know, don't say it, don't say it, I know. I sound exactly like my father."

Abe shakes his head, "Actually, you said it with more conviction."

I nod, before turning to Abe, "Can I get you something? A beer?"

"I am fine."

"All right, well, if you change your mind just say something."

Jackson takes a deep breath, "Keep in mind I had to duke it out with a bunch of baboons for that six-pack."

"No, thanks. How's Chloe?"

"She's getting by. You know, she's doing what she can." I take a deep breath.

"And Mitch?"

"We haven't talked to him in a couple weeks."

Abe nods, "I suspect he was in love with her. You know there are these underground restaurants where people can go to eat meat?"

Jackson nods, "I heard about that."

I nod and chuckle, "There's also apparently secret societies for cat lovers."

Abe laughs softly, "Even before all this began, people who love cats should have kept themselves hidden."

We share a laugh and nod, before Jackson takes a deep breath, "Where you been, Abe?"

"You know. Trying to sort things out, I suppose."

"And what'd you learn?"

"Not much of anything, really. Except These are not the days to retreat from those you care about. In fact, these are the days to do the very opposite. You know, no matter what has happened up until now, we must continue. I mean, things will get worse, yes. There will be failures, yes. There will be suffering. But we must continue."

I smile as I hear my phone go off, Jackson being closer to it walks over and looks at the text, "It's from Chloe, the leopards are gone. It wandered onto Reiden land. The leopard they had displayed the defiant pupil."

I sigh and cover my mouth, Abe looks between the two of us, "So we find whatever is the next leopard, the next solution. Jamie should not have lost her life for nothing."

I sigh, "We don't even know if there is anything else to do."

"Well, you will figure it out. You're Jackson Oz and Katherine Smith. Coming up with solutions is what you two do." Jackson and I fall silent as Abe take a deep breath, "Earlier tonight, I witnessed a dying man eating a steak and singing a song, and I understood once again just what it is we are fighting for. You know, I will take you up on that baboon beer."


	2. The Incests

Abe and Jackson end up staying up all night talking, I, however, was too tired having been up for the past two nights trying to help track down the leopards, so I ended up going to be. When I wake up the next morning to find a voicemail on my phone, when I listen to it, I'm surprised to hear it's Mitch.

"Kat, Hi. It's Mitch. Sorry to bother you but you were the only person whose number I still had. Listen… Jamie is alive. She has the leopard too. If you and Jackson could get a hold of Chloe and Abe, we could meet in front of the Reiden headquarters here in D.C. and maybe we can save her and… I don't know… the world? Ahh… call me when you get this."

I head out into the living room and see Jackson and Abe having breakfast. "Good morning, my kitty kat."

"Kitty Kat? I haven't heard that nickname before." Abe chuckles.

I shake my head, "Jackson, I need you to call Chloe. Mitch… Mitch just called me saying that Jamie was alive and she has the leopard."

"Wait, Mitch called you?"

"Yes, did."

"How does he know that Jamie and the leopard are alive? Does he have any proof?"

"Right now do we have time to ask all these questions. Just call Chloe, tell her to meet us in front of Reiden and I'm gonna call Mitch back."

Jackson takes a deep breath and nods. Calling Chloe as I call Mitch. "Mitch, hey."

"Hey, Kat. Are you guys coming with me?"

"Yeah, we are calling Chloe right now and Abe's at the house. Where is Jamie?"

"She's in New Brunswick."

"Well, that gives us a large place to look Mitch."

"Given where we crashed, I'm willing to bet she is in Bertrand."

"Alright, I'll call and see if I can get us some transportation up there. We'll meet you in an hour."

Mitch and I hang up and turn to Jackson, "Chloe will be there as soon as she can. Maybe 45 minutes to an hour."

"Good, I need to call for a boat and we need to hear out."

Jackson and Abe nod, Abe heads out to get some of his things as Jackson and I pack some of our things, while I call and try to charter a boat. Once Abe gets back from packing some of his things for our trip, we head out to Reiden to meet Chloe and Mitch. When we get there Mitch and Chloe are waiting for us.

"Hey, kids." Mitch greets us with a smile.

Jackson gives him a hug, "What happened to you?"

"Cut myself snarking. What's your excuse?"

"Baboons."

"Of course." Mitch turns to me and gives me a hug, "You look well put together. As always."

"Thanks," I smile and give him a hug, "So Jamie's alive."

"Can you believe that?"

"Unbelievable."

Mitch turns to Abe, who smiles at him, "Hey, here he is. Hello, professor. Hey, Chloe."

Mitch and Chloe greet Abe with a hug and Jackson takes a deep breath as the greetings die down, "All right, so, what's the plan?"

"We drive to Delaware. There is a boat that will take us to Jamie."

Mitch looks at me confused for a moment, "A boat?"

I nod. "Yeah. It'll take 18 hours or so, but, you know, air travel."

Mitch nods, "Yeah, I'm okay not getting on a plane for a while."

We get into the car and Abe beings our long drive to Delaware. Abe and I are in front, Jackson, and Mitch in the middle and Chloe in the back. Mitch and Jackson are talking and over here the two of them, "What is that? You all right?"

I glance back and see Jackson has a bite on his arm I hadn't noticed before, "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's nothing."

"It's a dog bite."

"It's fine."

I turn back slightly, "That needs to be cleaned up."

Mitch nods, "I agree. It doesn't look good."

Jackson shakes his head but doesn't argue. When we turn a corner we see a sea of animals as Abe stops the car. Even in this hammer, I don't think that we'd stand a chance. "What the hell?"

I hear Mitch behind me, "This doesn't look so good, either."

Abe takes a deep breath, "Any ideas? I'm open to suggestions."

The animals roar and growl, an elephant in the sea of them trumpets. I grip Abe's arm, "Yeah, get us out of here."

"Hold on!" Abe shouts as he whips the car around. As he does I look back and can see the animals chasing the car. Jackson shouts from the back, "Turn here!"

"We need to get to Jamie. And the cure." The next thing I know I hear Chloe shouts it feels like the truck has been T-boned. We stumble out of the car. I hold the side of my head, being on the side that had been hit.

Jackson walks over to me, "We got to keep moving. If the harbor's anything like this, the captain won't wait long."

I look over the direction we came and hear an elephant, but we don't see any animals, "Neither will they."

Jackson looks around and grabs a metal pipe, handing it to Abe, "Abe. Count to five, light me." Jackson turns to get into the truck.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm making a wall. Meet me at Amelia's office, she'll get us another car."

Chloe shouts behind me, "Are you out of your mind?"

"Probably." Jackson gets in the car and takes off, counting to five, Abe hits the pipe on the ground, lighting the fuel the car was leaking.

As Jackson drives off we start to leave, but Chloe is reluctant. "No! We can't just leave him."

Mitch turns to her, "He said he'll meet us at Amelia's office and he will."

"No." Chloe shakes her head.

I step up to her, "He's an African safari guide, I like his chances way better than ours."

As we run through the streets we are attacked by hornets. Mitch shouts, " Run," as we run I get spread from the others, I can hear them shouting as I do, "Kat!"

"GO, go, go!"

As I keep running I hear a baby crying. When I stop and look around as much as I can, see a woman in a car. "Help!" The woman shouts. I open the car door and see that the woman is covered in Hornets, "Please help. Take her."

The woman hands me the baby, who is wrapped in blankets crying, "I got her."

As I say this I see the light out of her mother's eyes, when it does I shake my head and continue on toward Amelia's office as quickly as I can. When I get there, there are hundreds of people. I look around and try to find the others. Before long I hear Mitch. "Kat!"

I turn and run over to them, "Where's Jackson?"

Abe shakes his head, "We hoped he was here."

Mitch points to the baby I am bouncing in my arms, "Why do you have a baby?"

"It happened after the Hornets. The mother, she… she didn't survive."

"That's terrible."

Mitch nods, "This day's chock-full of terrible."

I sigh, "Hopefully Amelia can salvage it. Find us a way out of town."

Chloe shakes her head, "She hasn't checked in yet."

I sigh and shake my head, as I do I hear Abe call out, "Jackson!"

I turn and see Jackson walking up. When we get to me he looks, curiously at the baby in my arms. I smile and hug him, "What happened to you? You okay?"

Jackson nods, "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine."

"Rafiki, what happened out there?"

Jackson sighs, "Brakes failed. I had to jump but the fire did the trick. Scared all the animals away, didn't see any after the explosion. Got lucky, I guess."

"We need to get you to a doctor." I sigh and look to Jackson, he nods, surprisingly not arguing again. When we get to the clinic set up in the safe zone, we are seen quietly.

The doctor is taking some blood from Jackson, "You've lost a lot of blood."

"Well, then why are you taking more?" Jackson complains.

"Typing and crossing. You may need a transfusion."

"I'm fine."

I nudge him with my elbow, as much as I can since I still have the baby, "hey, she's just trying to help."

Jackson nods, "I will save you the trouble.O-negative, I'm a universal donor."

"Still got to check, handsome. You got banged up pretty good. May have internal bleeding."

I look up to her, "And what about his bite?"

"Keep it clean. Watch for infection, and if you're wondering, just like everyone else, the animals can't pass the virus on to humans."

Jackson shakes his head, "It's not a virus."

"Whatever it is, it's not contagious."

The doctor walks away and I turn to Jackson, "You could have been killed."

"I wasn't, okay? And I'm not waiting around for some ridiculous blood results. I'm fine."

"You're not fine. None of this is fine."

"Kat, I'm okay. Everything's okay."

"Tell that to the mother of this child or anyone else who died today."

"The sooner we get out of here, the sooner that we can get to the leopard and find the cure, and everything will be okay."

"Yes, and what if it isn't? The mutation has spread to insects. They were the dispersal method."

"Yeah, well, that's still our best chance."

I sigh and shake my head, "It's time for a solution we know will work."

Jackson looks at me shocked, "There are over 42 million species of animal."

I nod, "Wreaking havoc on the world."

"So, you're in favor of the Noah Objective now, huh? You want to call all the animals, exterminate them, and then repopulate."

"If it means saving lives."

"It is straight up murder."

"And what do you call what happened to this child's mother?"

"I call it terrible. It's terrible."

"After everything we've been through, wasn't there a moment when you felt that putting a bullet in them was the right thing?"

Mitch walks up behind us and speaks before we can continue our argument, "Hey, Romeo, Juliet, We finally got somebody from Amelia's office to talk to us." We nod and Mitch leads us over to the woman from Amelia's office, "Guys, this is Eleanor Lewis. She's with IADG."

I sigh, "Where's Amelia?"

Eleanor takes a deep breath, "Her motorcade was attacked. There were no survivors. It's not just here. The animals have attacked Berlin, Moscow, Paris, Hong Kong MITCH: Not to make bad news worse, but the mutation has jumped to the insects. The mosquitoes might not be able to distribute the cure."

Mitch shakes his head, "It's worse than that."

"What do you mean?"

"There are five species known to be essential to human survival, bees, bats, butterflies, primates, and plankton. We've already lost bats and primates. Without the insects, the only thing we have left on our side is the oh-so-useful plankton we're losing."

I sigh and shake my head, "Our only shot is the leopards. Can you get us another car so we can make it to the boat?"

"Okay, that won't be necessary. I'm sending choppers and a team to New Brunswick to get Ms. Campbell and the cure."

"I want to see."

"This is a military operation, Dr. Morgan."

"No, you need a vet on board. The cure's in a leopard. Leopards have a very high sensitivity to sound. A chopper's kind of loud. So if that animal is not sedated properly I'm talking. 2 milligrams of diazepam too much or too little then your cure is gonna wake up and chew somebody's face off or they're gonna."

"I get it. Why do I get the sense your passion goes past the leopard?"

Jackson steps forward. "By the way, I'm on that chopper, too."

Abe nods, "If he goes, I go."

Eleanor looks over to me, "Well, I suppose you two want on as well?"

Chloe and I look to each other and shake our heads, "No, we are going to get this child to its father."

"I think I can help with that." Abe turns to us, "You pulled her from an urban transport. I think I can call the station to find out where the mother and infant were picked up."

"Thank you. Bring Jamie home safe."

It doesn't take Abe's contact long to help us find the baby's father and Chloe takes the baby to him as I go over to the doctor's station. "Excuse me. You ran Jackson Oz's blood earlier for internal bleeding."

The doctor nods and looks over her files, "Oz." She pulls out a file, "Here it is."

"Can I have his results? I'm his wife." She nods and gives me the file I look over them notice that the blood type is wrong. "You sure this is right?"

'Yes, ma'am. Ran it myself."


	3. O-Negative

It takes the boys about three hours to get back and I honestly didn't know if they would be back. When Chloe and I look over the group, we expect to see Jamie, but she isn't with them. I give Jackson a hug. Eleanor had met with us as well.

"Where's Jamie?"

Mitch huffs as he walks past me, "Ask him." He points back to Abe.

I look up at him confused. "There was nothing you could do for her? We were surrounded."

Mitch wipes around, "Didn't even look for her."

"It was not viable."

I turn to Eleanor, "Can you send a team back up there - to look for her, immediately?"

"Yes. I'm on it."

I nod, upon hearing Eleanor's answer and basically drag Jackson away. When we get into a stairway Jackson looks at me confused. "I need to talk to Eleanor."

"Look, I have to tell you something... I got a copy of your blood tests."

"What did they find?"

"Nothing. You're perfectly healthy."

"Okay."

I take a deep breath, "Except your blood You said you were a universal donor, right?"

"Yeah, I am."

I shake my head, "Not anymore."

"Uh, maybe they got it wrong. Right? A universal donor, universal recipient."

"I got your medical records. You were born O-negative. But it changed. Recently." I glance down at his arm and the bandage over his arm.

"The mutation isn't contagious, all right? It can't spread to humans. We know that."

"Maybe we don't know as much as we thought."

Jackson shakes and I rub my temples. What happens if the mutation is contagious? Sadly, we don't have long to think about that before the lab techs are ready to test the cure. The group is in an observation room and we watch as they test the cure on a dog. We wait and watch, but Mitch gets impatience.

"It's been ten minutes since we administered the cure."

I nod, "It took a while for the cure to work in Zambia, too."

"Not this long." Mitch rushes down onto the floor and the rest of us follow.

The tech turns to Mitch, "It's not working."

"It works. You're doing it wrong. You did something wrong."

"Dr. Morgan, we followed your protocols to the last detail."

"Dog seems to disagree. Did you verify the viability of these stem cells?"

"Measured 89% with 7-AAD dye exclusion."

"Cross-check for contamination?"

"Zero ppm detected."

"Resuspend at the right temperature."

"Obviously."

"Well, obviously not. Something's wrong."

Mitch begins to mix the cure himself and the tech protests. "You don't have clearance"

" Clearance? We didn't fly around the world for that leopard so that you textbook hacks could screw it up."

The tech step towards Mitch, but Jackson steps between them, "Hey, what's he gonna do, Doc, huh? Make it not work more? It's okay."

Mitch finishes the cure and steps in front of the dog that is barking and growling. Mitch strays the dog. " Easy. Easy, easy. Good boy... Just drop Come on, just drop. Just drop!"

The heart rate of the dog doesn't drop and Mitch moves over and flips the table next to him. I look over to the monitor, "This baseline heart rate is way higher than anything we've seen before.

"It's like it's like the dog's still mutating."

"We're too late. Everything that we've done, all for nothing. Total waste!"

Abe walks over to him and puts a hand on his shoulder, "Wait."

"Get your hands off me, Kenyatta. All right? Don't touch me, don't even think about me, all right?"

"We can find another way!"

"We will not find another way! We will not find another way. This is over. I'm done."

Mitch storms out of the lab, leaving the rest of us. Soon after we all head out as well, I look over to Jackson, "What happened in New Brunswick?"

Abe sighs, "I had to leave Jamie, she wasn't with the leopard and we had to leave her. We couldn't even look for her."

Chloe and I head to Eleanor's office to meet with her. When we do, I take a deep breath, "the cure didn't work."

"Believe me, I'm just as disappointed as you are. Whatever was in the leopard when it cured the dog in Zambia is gone. We're starting from scratch."

I shake my head, "It's still there, The leopard, the cure, was isolated for three months, showed no signs of contamination. The cure didn't change."

"Then why didn't it work?"

"I looked through everything, the cure did not change. I believe the animals did. The mutation in the animals has moved past the Mother Cell. I think that the mutation is still mutating."

"Assuming you're right, what is it you're asking for?"

"More time."

"Okay, time is something we have fairly little of. Amelia and I were some of the last IADG members looking for a non-lethal solution to the animal problem. After today's attacks, the Noah Objective seems unstoppable."

Chloe steps forward, "Well, we found a solution once, we can do it again."

"Eleanor We will do everything we can to get ahead of this thing. That dog probably all the animals out there are still changing. Everything that we have seen so far could just be the beginning."

Eleanor nods, "I've heard this before. What do you mean? Dr. Mark Vickers. Another scientist I'm working with. How did he put it? The initial mutation is just the preamble. The main event is coming."

I look over to Chloe, "We need to talk to him."

"He's on a research mission in Argentina with a team of Army Rangers, searching for an animal with what he calls a phase two mutation."

"Then Argentina is our next stop."

"I can help with that." Eleanor smiles, "I have someone who is more than happy to help us, with anything we need."


	4. Trotter

As soon as we get the information for Eleanor, Chloe and I head out to get the group, all except for Mitch, who we hadn't seen since we stormed out of the building. Obviously, they are a little nervous about being on a plane for a long period of time. I mean Abe, Jackson, and I had only crashed a handful of times since this whole thing started.

"We pushed our luck already with the trip to New Brunswick," Abe comments as we drive to the airfield. I am driving, which is odd for this group, but Chloe and I are the only ones who know where we are going.

"Apparently, according to Eleanor, this plane has been equipped with some sort of countermeasures." I glance to Abe in the rearview mirror.

"So, they're going to try and squeeze us into a fighter jet."

We laugh as we approach a very VERY large plane. When we get out of the car the group looks on in awe at the sire size of this plane.

"Looks like the skies just got a whole lot friendlier." Abe chuckles.

We get our bags out of the truck and head into the plane, when we get in we are greeted by the pilot and Eleanor., "This is your pilot, Greg Trotter Greg, this is Jackson Oz"

"Hi,"

"Abraham Kenyatta."

"Hi, How are you."

"Chloe Tousignant."

"Hi."

"And Katherine Smith."

"Well, nice meeting Y'all. I'm off to do preflight. Be in the air in no time. Enjoy your tour."

We nod and smile as Trotter walks but to the cockpit before Eleanor starts our tour. "The sleeping quarters and the lounge are upstairs. You'll have to decide amongst yourselves who gets the master bedroom."

We walk through the plane, Jackson and I walk into the kitchen and look around, "This kitchen is bigger than my first apartment."

I scoff, "Please, it's bigger than the cabin we had back home."

"Vehicle bay is in the tail and this is the lab." Eleanor continues.

"Eleanor, whose plane is this?" Jackson asks as he and I step out of the Kitchen.

"An interested third party who has a lot to lose if the Noah Objective goes forward."

"And this third party is giving us a ride to meet a scientist?"

"Not giving you a ride, giving you a plane."

"What's the catch?"

"No catch. That was the first question I asked, too. I also asked for a basketball hoop right up there. Guess we haven't gotten around to that one yet, huh?" We look up and see Mitch coming down the stairs.

"So, you're back? I thought you quit." I step forward and give Mitch a hug.

"Well, to be honest, I got no place else to go and I made a deal with our new pal, Eleanor, here. She's gonna send a team to look for Jamie, and if they can't find her, she's gonna send another and another and another until we do find her. Right, Eleanor?"

Eleanor nods, "As soon as a team becomes available, I'll dispatch them to New Brunswick."

Abe looks over to Eleanor, "Eleanor, thank you, truly."

"It's the least I can do."

"And thank you for using your leverage."

Mitch sits onto the stairs, "All right if I won all of you in a raffle, I'd probably give you back to the guy who won second place. Although he probably wouldn't want you, either." I look down at Mitch, disapprovingly. "Nor would he want me, because I've been behaving like a five-year-old." He clears his throat. "As to why we're all being raffled off in the first place, I can't really... Look, I'm…. What I'm trying to say is we don't get to choose our families. For better, for worse, we're pretty much family now. Right? We've got work to do, so let's do it."

Jackson nods and looks over to Eleanor, "And what is that work, Eleanor? Do we have an official assignment?"

"Stop the mutation."

"That's all?" I look at a little confused.

"Thanks to aggressive lobbying by Reiden Global, the IADG is set to vote on the Noah Objective in six weeks. If it's approved, there will be no turning back."

Mitch stands but up and steps down next to me, "Hang on a second. Reiden Global? The biotech company that started this whole animal mess they still have a say in this?"

Eleanor nods, "They offered a solution, and people are listening."

Jackson's gaze moves from Eleanor to me, a disapproving almost betrayed look in his eyes, "The Noah Objective is not a solution. Its murder."

"We're part of a dwindling few who believe that. The only way we're gonna convince the others is by giving them a viable alternative. Start in Argentina. Meet with Dr. Vickers, see if his work if this animal he's hunting can help you."

I take a deep breath and nod, "We don't have much time."

The team nods and we separate, going to look over the different rooms. Natural Chloe and Abe take a few of the individual rooms and Jackson and I take another.

"It'll be cramped in here with two of us," I comment as I sit my bag onto the small bed and glance around the small room. For one person it would be nice, but it's a little small for two.

"Cramped is good for me," Jackson comments wrapping his arms around my waist.

"I thought you were mad at me."

"I'm not mad, I get where you are coming from when we were talking earlier. You were scared and panicked. But we can't let the Noah Objective go forward."

I nod as I feel Jackson rest his head on my shoulder, "I know..."

After getting unpacked Jackson and I head to the small living room area and flip on the TV, listening to the anchor, with Abe and Chloe. "We now have confirmation from the IADG that the rumored cure has failed. And in light of the attacks in Washington D.C., suburbs all along the Eastern Seaboard are being evacuated. Residents are encouraged to take shelter in the nearest protected city or government safe zone."

Jackson shakes his head and leans forward, placing his elbows on his knees. "I have the feeling things are going to get worse before they get better."

I nod and sigh, lightly rubbing his back. "We'll figure something out… We have to…"

Abe stands and sighs, "I need a drink."

I grab one of the files and look over Jackson's files and see that one of the changes I may have pushed through was done. I place a hand on Jackson's shoulder and stand, this had always been our signal of I need to talk to you in the other room. When I get up I head back into our room and Jackson follows behind.

"I pulled a few strings slightly illegal strings and I changed your medical records."

"Well, then, uh we got nothing to worry about, huh? We don't have to worry about anyone else finding out. We'll keep this between the two of us."

"Our little secret."

"Our little secret that what? My blood's changing? That I'm changing? Changing into what?" Jackson laughs nervously as thunder rolls and rumbles outside.

"I'm gonna go check out the lab." I smile wryly to Jackson before heading down to the lab and seeing Mitch. "Hey."

"Hey, Kat. What's up?"

I sigh and step over to him, "This thing between you and Abe, you gotta put it behind you. I don't know what happened up there, but I do know that we can't get this done if we don't work as a team, and that means you can't be moody Mitch all the time."

"Yes, mom." Mitch nods and jokes. I turn and start back up the stairs.

"Hey, like it or not, I'm basically the Den Mother to this group, for some reason."

"Does that make Jackson dad or…"

I stop and look back to Mitch, "Don't make it weird."


	5. Argentina

That night we fly to Argentina to meet Dr. Vickers. When we area we are given the last known coordinates of his team. But, when we get to the hostel where the time and Dr. Vickers should be, it looks like a battle zone. Wooden pillars are broken, glass bottles scattered, bodies of Army Rangers all around us. When we look at the center of the room there is a woman with dark curly hair and a man, I think, laying at her feet with a fire poker through his chest.

The woman doesn't turn around as she addresses us, "You're the team?"

Abe sighs and groans, look at the sight around us, as he answers, "We're here to help."

"A little late."

She stands and walks forward and Mitch and I walk forward to look at the man. But he doesn't look like a man. He has changed, his skin looks as though there are hundreds of warts of boils just under the skin and his skin has thickened. His right arm looks as though it was torn off at the forearm and he seemed to be using the bone as a weapon.

"My, God." I gasp as my brain tries to process what I'm seeing.

I hear Chloe gasp from behind me. "What is that?"

The woman sighs, "That killed my entire team."

I look up to her, "And Dr. Vickers?"

"Him too."

Jackson steps forward, I can tell he is about a half step behind Mitch and I, and I can see him out of the corner of my eye. "Did Vickers know what he was looking for? That the Phase Two animal was a man?"

Then the man begins choking and moving around. As he does the woman turns and draws her gun, pointing it at the man. As she does, Jackson grabs my arm and almost pulls me away. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hey, hey!"

"Easy, Lara Croft," Mitch comments in his ever so Mitchy way.

"You need to stand back. This thing killed six rangers. One of them was my best friend. His first daughter just about to be born, so if you think I'm gonna show this thing any kindness at all…"

I step toward, breaking away from Jackson, "He's dying."

"Good. He can't get dead enough for me."

"Look, we're sorry about your team, but this man, we haven't seen anything like him before. No one has."

"Lieutenant, we need to take him back with us, alive, so lower your weapon. We have to get him back to the plane." Abe softly comments.

"What about my squad?"

Chloe sighs softly. "I'll put in a request for a recovery team."

"Request? I'll bury them myself."

"There's no time for that."

"I'm not asking for permission."

Abe sighs and takes a deep breath, "I'll stay and help her bury them."

It takes us a while but we finally get the man back to the plane and Jackson, Mitch, and I begin to look him over.

"If that poor man has the same mutation as the animals, you have to find out why." As Mitch walks away from a moment I look around to Jackson.

"You see that?"

"Yeah."

"The scarring looks like…"

"Yeah. Looks like my arm. Yeah, I know."

We had realized it but Mitch had moved back towards us and could hear us whispering. "You two want to share with the class?"

"Jackson clears his throat. " Yeah, we were just, um, looking at where you patched him up, unbelievable. He heals quick."

"Okay, fine, keep your secrets. I'm more concerned about him. His heart rate is holding steady at 170."

I nod, "It's twice what it should be. Respiration is off the charts for a human being."

"The way he's changing, the heightened metabolism, accelerated healing We saw that in other animals."

"It's like he's turning into the perfect predator."

When I walk up the stairs Chloe is talking to Eleanor on the monitor in the kitchen, "He's dead. The Phase Two animal he was chasing killed him and the rangers, too."

"Were you able to secure the animal?"

"No, there was no sign of it by the time we arrived."

"It took weeks for Vickers to get this close."

"I'd like to keep the team in Patagonia. Continue the search."

"It's too dangerous without a military escort."

"With all due respect, Eleanor, just walking out the front door is a risk these days. I'll take my chances out here with the rest of my team."

"Fair enough."

"Thank you."

When the video call is over I call out to Chloe softly from the corner of the room, "Why didn't you tell Eleanor about the man we found out there? He has a Phase Two mutation."

She turns and nods, " If I tell her the truth, he disappears into a government lab, and we never see him again."

"Chloe, we have to be honest with Studying him might be our only chance to understand this."

"I'm sure you and Mitch will do fine, better than some of those ivory league scientist. There's only one thing that matters now finding a cure."

I nod and head back into the bedroom Jackson and I share. I just need a minute to myself. But, before long Jackson comes in and notices me laying with my back to the door. I feel him sit on the bed and lay his hand on my arm. When he does I turn over onto my back and look up at him and take a deep breath. I know I'd been crying and so I had tear stains on my face.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Jackson asks softly and sweetly.

"I'm sorry, but I can't lose you. I'm not gonna lose you." I shake my head and sit up.

As I do, Jackson pulls me into a hug, "Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, shh. We don't know what's going to happen to me."

"Well, you saw the scar tissue, Jackson. You said it yourself. It's just like your arm."

"If we can figure out what happened to him, then we can stop it from happening to me. His arm looks like it was bitten off. More like it was gnawed. Whatever happened, it wasn't fast. It wasn't clean."

I nod, "It probably hurt like hell."

As Jackson leans his head against mine, we hear the Army Ranger yell from down in the lab, "Son of a bitch. Why is this thing still alive?"

Jackson and I run out of the room. I wipe my face as we do, and head down to the lab. Mitch is trying to keep calm while talking to her. "I got a hit on his fingerprints. He's a doctor from Hungary working with the Red Cross. Janos Kovacs."

"Kovacs?"

I look over to the Ranger, "Do you know him?"

"Yeah. I mean, not well, but we worked the same refugee camp in Egypt a few years back."

I grab one of the tablets and get into Mitch's system, "According to his visa, he arrived five weeks ago. Was headed for a village called Ydermo."

Jackson clasps his hands, "then that's where we start."

"Don't bother. My team was there two days ago. Everyone's dead. Massacred by this thing Kovacs turned into."

"Well, it's our only lead."

"You all are insane. What if there are more like him out there?"

Abe nods, "She has a point. We don't know what we're walking into. We should wait until Mitch and Kat have finished the tests, so we know more about this new mutation."

"Why am I not surprised you want to stay on the plane?"

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

"You know, sometimes what's out there is worth the risk."

"But if you want to hang back, take a bubble bath, that's cool with me. Just stay out of my way, okay?"

"Bubble bath?"

"Yes."

"This is how, out of anger, you'd characterize me as a man that has been taking bubble baths since we've - begun this?"

"Metaphorically-speaking, yeah, I'm comfortable with that characterization."

I stand and step between them, I know that I won't be able to keep Abe from Mitch, but I don't think Abe will do anything and I think I could stop Mitch long enough for Jackson to get to him. "Okay, guys, enough. We need to find the animal responsible for transferring the mutation."

Chloe takes a deep breath, "Lieutenant Marzan, you'll take Jackson and Abe to Ydermo."

"Is that an order? 'Cause I don't see stripes on your sleeve."

"I don't need stripes. I have a plane. The quicker we get what we need, the quicker you get back to Sao Paolo."

Everyone seemed to be at someone's throat. Mitch seemed to be on everyone's hit list since he's been extra Mitch like since the group came back from New Brunswick without Jamie. Jackson has been a little moody, having outbursts every now and then. I only hope it's not the mutation.

The team heads out and I stay with Mitch in the lab to continue working with Kovacs. I even find myself trying to speak to him when Mitch is away.

"Kovacs, can you hear me?"

As the monitor beeps, I hear Mitch come up, "I don't think he's gonna answer you. Pretty sure he can't. His physiology, biochemistry it's all changing."

"How so?"

"Well, his brain's only lighting up around the basal ganglia. Which as I'm sure you know, is the most primitive part of the brain. It's responsible for our survival, instinct, aggression. Conversation, not so much."

"But the parts of his brain that make him human they're still there?"

"Mm-hmm. It's like they're switched off, though."

"And can we switch 'em back on?"

"Uh, actually, yeah, there might be away." Mitch begins to set up a test, strapping a few cords to Kovacs' head. "So the plan is to stimulate the neocortex. That's the most evolved part of the brain."

Mitch doesn't explain much further since I was required to study the brain as part of my Nursing classes. But I will explain the Neocortex in the part of the brain that makes us human. Language, social structure, self-control, empathy. All the things we know we should do to be productive members of society.

I nod and look up to Mitch. "Will it hurt him?"

"No, he'll be fine. Just a small electronic pulse, kind of like a static shock. Why? Is there something you're not telling me?"

"Kovacs proves that the mutation has spread to humans. Finding a new cure is more important than ever."

As that moment Kovacs whispers softly, "Isabel…. Bella…"

As he whispers he begins to cry some weird black tar-like substance. "What is that?"

"I think he's crying."

As that moment Kovacs begins to shake, thrashing his body around and begins choking. "He's crashing."

"I didn't even start the test yet."

"We've got to cut him loose."

Mitch and I cut the straps on Kovacs and turn him on his side so he doesn't choke. When we turn him over Kovacs jumps up, pushing my back into the wall, and runs out of sight before we can react. I look up at Mitch, "Go find Chloe and I'll tell Trotter."

Mitch nods and heads up the stairs, as I talk to Trotter over the two way intercom, "Trotter, if you can hear me, stay in the cockpit. Lock the door."

When I turn back Mitch and Chloe are heading down the stairs. Mitch sighs as he looks around "Screw this. I think we should go check the bar."

"Why?"

"Well, I don't know, wasn't alcohol invented for times like this?" I sigh and shake my head before Mitch steps across to me and look over my head. "Hold on." Mitch grabs a small alcohol pad and puts it on my head. I guess I have to cut since it burns like hell. Mitch looks over the cut on my head and patches it up, thankfully not needed stitches.

As we do we hear Kovacs growling and howling as the power flips on and off. "Son of a bitch is just toying with us."

I jump up off the table, "We need to catch him in one of those cages in the lab."

"Hey hey, you could have a concussion. Do you think that's a good idea?"

"Do we have another choice?"

Without waiting to hear Mitch's agreement, I run off into the plane looking for Kovacs and Mitch follows. I stop by a corner and Mitch stops next to me, "You know, you and Jackson have both been _Really_ impulsive lately."

I look at him and shrug, "What can I say, we're impulsive people." I look around the corner and see Kovacs. "He's in there, lure him out and to the cages, I'll take it from there."

Before Mitch can ask anything or even answer with a head nod, I run off to the back of the lab, where there are two large animal cages. Before long I see Kovacs heading toward me and I stand in the middle of the doorway to one of the cages. When Kovacs gets about ten feet away, I jump, grabbing the bar above me and pulling myself up, out of his way before, and he runs into the cage. As I drop and close the door I barely have enough time to get out of his reach.

As Mitch runs up to me, I smile at him, "Next time you're the bait."

We chuckle softly before we hear the plane phone goes off, Mitch answers. "I see you're alive."

"Tell Trotter to get the plane moving now."

"What?"

"Now!"

"I'll go tell him." run back up the stairs to the cockpit and see Trotter. "Please tell me you're okay to fly."

" I'm always okay to fly."

"Good, we need to get out of here fast."

Trotter nods and I run back to the back of the plane. When I get to the lab I can hear the cargo bay door open and I run in, seeing Mitch and Chloe there, looking out the back. When I look out the back, I am shocked at what I see. "Is that an elephant?"


	6. Ants

Mitch and Chloe run out of the way of the truck driving down the runaway before the truck drives onto the plane. When it does I hit the door lift and close the cargo door and the plane flies off into the sky. When the group gets settled into the lab for Mitch and I to make sure no one is hurt, as one would do after being chased by a mad elephant.

"So what happened?" I look up to Abe after checking his breathing and everything needed.

"Vultures where stockpiling bodies. There were bodies everywhere. Stacked like firewood. Never before have I seen a wake this large descend from above the clouds."

"What were they doing up there?"

"I think they were responsible for the blood rain that drove the villagers away."

"How is that possible?" I look over to Mitch.

Mitch sighs and nods. "As much as I hate to admit it he's right. I ran some tests on the rain while I was waiting for the results on that, uh, elephant blood you brought back."

So the vultures are responsible for the rain?"

"This blood rain is highly acidic, and the protein structure matches the corrosive bile that vultures have in their digestive tract."

"How did the bile get into the rain?"

"The vultures feed, they fly above the cloud cover. And that high up, they can seed the clouds with acidic bile."

"But they were stockpiling human bodies. So you're saying that The red color? It's blood. Human blood." I look over to Mitch, who simply nods his head, "So not only did they feed on the villagers, but they poisoned their water supply, destroyed their crops."

"This is a whole new level of aberrant aggressive behavior."

Jackson sighs, "Well, how about the elephant blood that I brought back in?"

"Unremarkable. We've seen plenty of animals with the same mutation, right? If there was something special about the elephant, I could attribute that mutation transfer to that, but it's not about the elephant. It's about the man."

"So you're saying that there's something specific about Kovacs' genetic makeup that made it possible for the mutation to occur in him."

"Yeah, that's what it looks like. Now, I think it's gonna take a little time to figure out what that is exactly."

"Fine. Then run more tests. We have him, we have a chance. We can study him and maybe learn how to reverse it."

Dariela, the Army Ranger walks into the lab, rather upset "You let that thing loose again?"

Abe sighs, "Dariela, now is not the time."

"Instead of putting it down, you let it loose again.

" I'm sorry about your friends, but they died in the line of duty. And right now, there's only one person that matters. Janos Kovacs."

"Stop saying that. That's not him."

"Yes, it is. He's still in there!"

"No, he's not."

With the Dariela walks over to Kovacs and shoots him, three times, in the head. The group rushes to stop her when she pulls out her gun, but we're too late. I take a deep breath and try my best not to see red.

The group goes silent as Mitch rushes in to check Kovacs, "He's dead."

"Do you have any idea what you've done?" I shout at her.

"What were you thinking, huh? Who are you, anyway?" Mitch walks over behind me.

"You never should've brought that - monster on this plane," Dariela shouts back to Mitch.

"That monster was our only chance at understanding the new mutation!" Jackson points at Kovacs.

"He already killed six of my guys, you wanted to wait until he killed somebody else?"

Abe shouts over everyone, "Everybody should just calm down. Calm down?"

Mitch rolls his eyes, "Yeah, great idea, Abe. I can namaste with the best of them, but you know what? This chick just ruined our best shot at saving the world."

"You're going to save the world?"

"Yeah, that's the idea."

"Oh, well that's just great, that just really inspires confidence."

Chloe shouts, "Okay, enough now! Mitch, run every test you can on the body."

"Well, that's going to require a whole lot of complex DNA work, and I'm not going to be able to do that unless - we bring D.C. in on it."

"We'll figure out a way…."

Dariela cuts her off, " Hold on, you haven't told Washington?"

"No, I haven't told Washington."

"My team died for that festering freak and you bastards are off book?"

"This operation is strictly need-to-know."

"I don't give a steaming crap about your spy secrets, lady. I want my ops center on the radio now."

"I don't care what you want. This plane is under my command. And so are you." Chloe sighs and walks past Dariela.

I sigh and try to fight the urge to punch her, but instead clench my fists and walk away. I walk through the halls of the plane, but Jackson stops me before I get to the stairs, whispering to me.

"We have to tell Mitch if there is even a chance that I have the same mutation, Mitch needs to know that there's another phase two subject he can study."

"Jackson, no."

"You know it's true."

"If they learn about it in Washington, they will lock you in a cage."

"Mitch is our friend. He's not going to tell anyone, we can trust him."

"What if someone accesses his data? The only way to guarantee this stays secret is to not tell anyone."

Mitch walks up the hall, rubbing his hands together, "Ooh, what are we not telling anyone?" He looks between Jackson and I. "Eleanor wants to talk to us."

We nod and head to the conference area, Chloe is already there and Eleanor is on the screen. "I need you to meet me in Geneva, Switzerland immediately. They're pushing forward on the Noah Objective. A multinational conference has been assembled here to work out logistics."

Chloe shakes her head, "I thought we had more time."

"General Andrew Davies has taken over, and his methods are aggressive."

"What do you mean?" I tilt my head slightly to the side, looking up at the monitor.

"I'd rather discuss this in person."

"Okay, we'll come as soon as we can."

"What about Jamie?" Mitch leans back in his chair, already having his feet on the table.

"Resources are scarce, Dr. Morgan, but Jamie is still at the top of my list. As soon as there's a team available."

We nod and thank Eleanor. Chloe takes a deep breath, "Okay, so we'll come straight to your hotel once we land."

"No. I'll come to the plane. Have your pilot notify my adjutant, Lieutenant Reed, when you land."

"Of course."

"And understand this, we need to tread lightly. General Davies and his supporters want all alternatives to the Noah Objective shut down. At any cost."

Mitch scoffs, "Well, he's gonna love us."

"Just be careful."

I nod, "We'll see you then."

"Stay safe."

When the screen goes black I lean forward and look around the table, "Did she seem a little off to you?" Everyone nods, "Something is wrong."

When we land in Switzerland, we wait for Eleanor. It being late we can't afford to wait for her so we go to the hotel she is staying at and see that it crawling with military personnel.

Chloe leads the group of four of us. "Just follow my lead."

Jackson takes a deep breath and places an arm around my waist, keeping me close to him, "I'm assuming Eleanor didn't want us coming here for a reason."

I shrug, "Well, she never showed up at the plane, so we don't have a whole lot of options."

"That's Lieutenant Reed. Eleanor's adjutant." Chloe points out a man and walks over to him.

"Agent Tousignant, what are you doing here?"

"Looking for Eleanor."

"I assumed she was still with you."

"She never arrived."

"I'll ask around. Maybe someone else has seen her."

"Thank you."

"I'll check the other meeting." Reed nods to us and walks off.

"Well, that's not good." Jackson sighs.

As Reed leaves us another man, with grey hair, makes his way down the stairs. "It's about to get worse." Chloe turns to us, "That's General Davies, the man Eleanor warned us about."

When Chloe turns back, Davies is in front of her, "Agent Tousignant."

"General Davies, pleasure to meet you."

"I hope you're not here to offer us another ridiculous idea for a cure."

"No, we just had some loose ends to tie up with Eleanor."

"Ah, yes, our patron saint of lost causes. I'm afraid she's yet to grace us with her presence today. Agent Tousignant, I'm gonna be straight with you, you're a talented analyst. Too talented to be wasting your time with Moe, Larry, and Curly Sue here. We can use your skills here with the Noah Objective."

Jackson shakes his head, "You cannot exterminate every animal on the planet and then repopulate it. The entire ecosystem will crash. You understand that, right?"

"The Noah Objective is the most scientifically sound option we have. Extreme? Yes Unquestionably, but so are the circumstances."

"Damn it, I knew it! I knew I recognized you." Mitch exclaims. "Chloe, Jackson, Katherine, this is Dr. Andrew Davies. He's got a Ph.D. from Cambridge. I read your graduate thesis."

"I'm familiar with your work as well, Dr. Morgan. The study you published about mast cell tumors. The one that was ultimately discredited. You had your chance to find a cure. You failed. Every day spent discussing how to save the animals means thousands of human lives will be lost. So as much as I'd like to stand here debating ethics with you all day, I have a war to win."

With that Davies turns and leaves us. I sigh and look to Chloe, "That's the guy running the Noah Objective?"

Mitch clears his throat, "And now we're smack-dab in the middle of his crosshairs."

Chloe nods, "We need to find Eleanor now."

We quickly make our way to the room Eleanor should be in and knock, but there is no answer. Mitch runs off down the hall and comes back with a key.

"How'd you get that?"

"I'll say one thing about the animal apocalypse. Makes it easier to bribe hotel employees."

I shrug as we walk into the room and Chloe calls out softly, "Eleanor?" As Mitch flips the lights on we can see Eleanor laying on the floor, "no!"

We walk into the main room and I look over Eleanor as Chloe shakes her head, "Oh! What happened to her?"

"Her entire mandible is separated from her jaw."

Mitch groans, "All right, we got to call the cops."

I nod, but Chloe protests, "Wait. She wanted to tell us something. Something she couldn't say over the phone. She was concerned someone was listening to her." Chloe turns up the TV. "Maybe whoever it was killed her."

"Maybe. Maybe not." I point down at Eleanor, "See, those are some scorch marks. Looks like something burned her from the inside out."

Chloe moves over to the computer on the desk, " Radioactive material has been used in assassinations before."

"You think she was assassinated?" Jackson kneels down next to me.

"She said it herself. That Davies would shut down anyone standing in the way of the Noah Objective."

"Yeah, but come on, that's that's a little extreme, huh?"

"If I'm gonna get any answers, I'm gonna need a sample of cerebrospinal fluid." Mitch sighs. "Check out her nervous system for any chemicals or radiation."

I nod and stand as Mitch and I switch spots, "I'll take a look around the room."

Chloe types away on the computer. "We need to find out what she was trying to tell us."

Mitch rolls Eleanor onto her stomach and moves some hair off of her neck, "Sorry about this." He takes a letter opener and a paperweight and starts to cut into Eleanor's back. Once he is deep enough into her back he takes a straw and starts to suck the spinal fluid out.

Jackson walks into the room and shakes his head, not finding anything. I shrug my shoulders and look around the room, seeing a huge group of Ant's heading toward an outlet, "Mitch check this out."

"A little busy here."

"We got company."

Mitch looks over, having gotten the sample from Eleanor, before getting up and grabbing the metal icebox, "Scoop up some ants. Hurry before this spinal fluid goes bad."

"Now, that's a sentence you could go your whole life and never hear."


	7. Particle Accelerator

We leave the hotel as quickly as we can, probably making us look a little more guilty then we'd like, but what are they gonna do, blame us for killer ants? Once we get back everyone needs a break from everything, but sadly, time is something we don't have. We get to the lab and Mitch starts testing the spinal fluid while we turn on a news channel that has already gotten wind of Eleanor's death and are reporting on it.

"If you're just joining us, we're covering breaking news out of Geneva, Switzerland, where IADG's consultant, Eleanor Lewis, was found dead in her hotel room. The cause of death has not yet been released. Eleanor Lewis is survived by her 20-year-old son, - a freshman at U-Chicago."

Mitch takes a deep breath turning from the tv to Chloe and I "We, um, we need to reach out to someone else in Eleanor's department."

I shake my head, "She didn't have a department. It was only her and Amelia."

Chloe sighs, "And with them both gone, we're working alone."

"Which means there's no search team being sent to look for Jamie." Mitch stands and shakes his head.

"Hey, Mitch, no one's giving up on Jamie, okay? We will find a way to..."

Mitch cuts me off, "No one is gonna waste any resources looking for a redhead lost in the woods, right?"

The new report continues, "Another development in this ongoing investigation. And this information is coming to us live. Authorities have discovered five more unexplained deaths in Geneva, bringing the total count to 427. We're getting unconfirmed reports that each of the victims suffered strange burns."

"So other people died just like Eleanor?"

"It would appear so."

"Well, then maybe this is bigger than General Davies."

"Or smaller." Mitch comments look up from the microscope, "Check this out."

Mitch waves us over and brings up a screen with the slide on in. "There was an ant inside Eleanor's spine when she died?" I look over to Mitch. "So the ants killed her?"

"Maybe."

"But how?"

"I don't know yet, but I'll try to figure it out."

I nod and we leave Mitch to his tests. Jackson and I head to the room and get ready to settle in for the night. As I put my hair up it a high ponytail Jackson places his hands on mine, stopping me from putting my hair up and places his head against the back of mine, taking a deep breath.

"I like it when you wear your hair down."

"Even when it gets in your face while we're sleeping?"

"Yeah," he turns me around toward him and places his hands on my hips. "Because then I can smell warm vanilla all night."

I giggle softly as Jackson kisses me, leaning forward, before he lays me down on to the bed, still kissing me as he does. Our embraces last for an hour or so, but sadly we don't get to rest afterward. When we hear Abe come in, we both head down to the lab to talk to him.

Abe is sitting at one of the tables when Jackson walks up to him, "You know the, uh, the social structure of ants is actually quite similar to that of humans? Male ants, for example, will mate with attractive new female ants even if they're from an enemy colony."

Abe laughs, "You know, not everything is about mating, Rafiki. Not that you two would know that." Abe looks over to me as Jackson wraps an arm around my waist, placing his hand on my hip. "Dariela has an intriguing combination of strength and beauty. Much like Katherine does. What does it matter? I'm never going to see her again."

I place a hand on Abe's shoulder, "Don't talk like that Abe. If it's meant to be you'll see her again."

Jackson nods, "Yeah, no one, other than you, thought Kat and I would get together, let alone last and look at us now." Jackson places his forehead against mine, "Engaged, getting ready to start a family." He kisses me softly.

As he pulls his lips away, we hear Chloe come up, "Okay. We'll be there as soon as we can." She hangs up her phone, "That was Dariela."

Abe looks to Chloe, "What does she want?"

Mitch sighs, and walks over from the other side of the lab, which granted it's that far away, "Yeah, and why do we care?"

"She wants to show us something, says it's important to what we're working on."

"Well, so is that creature formerly known as Janos Kovacs, but that didn't stop her from putting a bullet in his brain."

Jackson steps forward, "I'll go with you."

As Jackson and Chloe leave, Abe and I turn to Mitch, "Oh, I-I don't need any help."

I shake my head and look toward the tank Jackson had put the ants in and notice they are all moving toward one side of the tank, "That's strange. They all seem determined to move in that one direction, it looks like they're being drawn to something."

Mitch picks up the tank and turns in around and ants move to the corner in the direction they were trying to move before. Abe stands and leans to the table, "But what?"

We look over to Mitch, "I have no idea. I could ponder that for a while, but I'd rather ponder this." Mitch takes a drink of the whiskey he has.

"Mitch."

"What?"

"Jamie would have wanted you to finish what we began."

"Oh, Now you're going to tell me what Jamie would've wanted? Hmm? After you left her out there in the middle of nowhere?"

"You think I wanted to? I made a difficult call. To save your life."

"I didn't need saving. She did."

"She was my friend, too."

"I don't see any evidence of that."

"How dare you assume that your pain is more important than ours?! Cuts deeper than ours! The grief of losing Jamie does not belong to you alone!" Abe raises his voice, and I don't blame him. Mitch has been acting like a toddler who lost his favorite toy since they came back with the leopard and not Jamie.

I step forward to stop the fight from escalating, but I hear a loud electricity crackling. I look over to the ants and see electronic pulses moving through them, "What is going on?"

Mitch sighs, "Bubble bath here…"

"No, not between you two, this." I point to the tank. They both look to the tank and then we look towards each other. "We need to call Jackson."

Abe nods and gets onto the phone, putting it on speaker.

"Yeah?" Jackson answers and we can hear sirens in the background.

" Have you heard about the explosions?"

"Yeah, we just saw one of them. There's dead ants everywhere."

Mitch takes a deep breath, "They're generating electricity."

"What are you talking about?"

"The ants we collected. They can generate electricity, that's how they're killing people."

"Hold on, you're saying ants are electrocuting people?" Dariela calls out over the phone.

" Yup, that's what happened to Eleanor. Enough of these ants together could generate a powerful enough charge to To blow up a transformer."

"First people, now transformers what's next?"

"Ants move in a straight line."

"Where were the other explosions?"

"Power station. Near PARC Trembley, next one was just over the border in, um, Les Pu - Pugin"

"Les Pugins." Chloe corrects.

"We've mapped all the deaths caused by the ants, including Eleanor. They all fall along the same line." I lean over Mitch's shoulder since he has the phone in front of him and is sitting.

"What if all the ants in Geneva were heading to the same place?" Abe asks.

"The Large Particle Accelerator. It runs underground, it's the largest machine in the world. It collides subatomic particles. Helps us understand the laws of nature. The incidents all seem to be heading in a straight line right for it." Mitch explains.

"But what?" Dariela questions.

"I don't know. Certain kinds of ants are drawn to electrical systems, and these ants have the phase two mutation."

"If you think they're gonna attack the accelerator, we should evacuate people."

"It won't help." Mitch shakes his head, "If all these ants make it to the accelerator and generate a strong enough charge, they could create a runaway fusion reaction. Which would kill every living thing within a thousand-mile radius."

Jackson and Mitch hang out the phone and the three of us head to the Large Particle Accelerator. When we get there and into a room to talk to the people in charge at this time, Jackson, Dariela, and Chloe have already beaten us there.

"Do you realize how crazy this sounds?"

Jackson nods, "Yes, I do. We hear this all the time."

" But if the ants are being drawn here, the highest concentration of energy is the collision point."

"Collision point? That doesn't sound ominous at all." Dariela comments.

Mitch sighs, "What the hell is she even doing here?" Mitch looks from Dariela to the woman at the front of the long table everyone is around, "This place must have a way of dispersing all that energy, right?"

"Maybe we can use the accelerator's own system to dissipate - the ants' energy." Abe looks to her as well.

She nods, "Oh, that may work. But diverting that much power... will require manual override."

"Where's the override?" I ask as I step around Abe and Mitch and beside Jackson.

"That way. It's a wall console in between the fourth and fifth stations."

Jackson and Mitch nod. Jackson turns me and places a hand on my cheek, "Stay with Abe." I nod and take a deep breath as they leave, I hate when he leaves me to go do something dangerous, but I know why he does.

Dariela starts out as well. "I'll go with them."

"Great, maybe you can find something else to shoot." Mitch scoffs.

Abe, Chloe, and I stay in the security room. Waiting for the others to get back. Abe is watching the screens, "They just passed station four…. Oh, my god." When I look over Abe's shoulder to see what's happening I see that ants have covered the camera.

As soon as I see this I call Jackson. "Jackson. The ants are right behind you. Don't let them get near you. You have to hurry!"

"I know, we just saw a river of them. I'll let you know when we're there. Hold tight." I look over the screens and wait, hearing the patching of Jackson and the other's as they run through the halls, doors opening and closing. Finally, I hear Jackson again. "Hey, we're at the collision point."

With that Jackson hangs up and shake my head, lowering the phone. Watching the screen, wishing there was something we could do from here. Suddenly the cameras go out. When they do Abe, Chloe and I rush toward the relay station. As we do we run into the other group.

"What happened?" I ask as we switch our directions to run after them.

"Dariela swallowed an ant. We gotta get it out." Mitch comments.

We don't stop running until we get to the power station of the building. Jackson and Mitch start to set up a makeshift electric chair.

"Should I be worried that you two know how to do this?" I look over to Jackson.

Jackson shrugs and grins toward me, still working on the 'chair,' "that depends."

"Hurry up!" Mitch shouts.

Dariela sits in a chair. "I don't have much time. I can feel the damn thing."

"You're gonna be alright." Abe comforts her.

"Okay, Put those on her temples." Mitch hands to probs to me and the electro reader begins going off. "And that... is the current that the ant is generating."

"I'm kind of with Katherine. Should we be worried you guys know how to build an electric chair?"

"Right now you should be grateful," Abe comments, helping the boys finish setting it up.

"We are gonna fry this little sucker." Mitch sighs.

"Blow its fuse before Before it can blow mine. I got it. You sure this will work?"

" Uh yeah, sort of."

Abe stops, kneeling in front of Dariela. "Are you ready?"

"Do it." She nods, as I pull the probes away.

"Clear!" Jackson shouts and everyone takes a step back before he flips the large switch on the machine, siding Dareila's body into a tense spasming state.

When he turns it off I put the probes back on her head and the reader goes off. "Yeah, he's still in there. Got to go again." Mitch comments.

"Clear!" Jackson throws the switch again and the electricity buzzes loudly. He turns it off and the electricity winds down as Dariela groans light.

I put the probes back to her head and the reader squeals, "Guys, I think we're pissing it off."

"It's charging up." Dariela comments.

"Try again! It could kill you."

"Not if the ant kills me first."

"Do it!" I look up to Jackson who takes a deep breath and throws the switch again. When he turns it off and I put the probes back to her head the reader doesn't make a peep, but Dariela isn't moving either.

"The ant's dead," Mitch comments as I move to check her pulse.

"but she's got no pulse." I look to Abe and shake my head, "Get her on the floor." Abe and I unstrap her and move her to the ground. "Got to clear the airway."

As I move to start CPR, Abe puts a handout, "I got this!" I move back and he starts CPS, "Come on, come on."

Soon Dariela beings grunting, gasping, and coughing, "Did it work?"

Mitch nods, "Good news is yes."

"And the bad news is?"

"You might have a dead ant floating around inside you somewhere."


	8. Moles

When we get back to the plane and takeoff I find Dariela. When I find her she is in the cargo bay area of the plane, packing a bag of her's.

"We're happy to drop you wherever you want. Unless you'd consider staying…" I smile as I walk up to Dariela. "Listen, I know we have our differences, but I think we can use someone like you."

"Because I shoot stuff for a living?"

I shrug, "Among other qualities."

"I want to get back to my unit. The military is what I know, it's home to me. But after everything I've seen,"

"With all the animals…" I nod.

"Not just the animals." Dariela shakes her head, "At the train station, I saw a U.S. general murder one of his own men."

"A U.S. general?"

" Yeah, before Jackson and Chloe got there."

I take out my phone and pull up a picture of General Davies, "Was it this man?"

"Yeah, that's him. He thought the soldier had stolen files from Eleanor something. Whatever they were, he wanted them back badly."

"We need to get to Chloe." Dariela and I walk through the plane and find Chloe in the dining room area, "Hey Chloe, do you still have Eleanor's laptop?"

"Yeah, right here, why?"

"We need to check the files on it."

"A U.S. General killed one of his own men because he thought he had them."

Chloe nods and opens the laptop, starting it up. It doesn't take her long to find what we're looking for. "I've got a link in one of her deleted files."

"You think it's what Eleanor wanted to talk to us about?"

"Could be."

Dariela and I move so we are sitting next to her. When the file loads it shows a map of the world, "What is this thing?"

"Some sort of demonstration. This is how many animals they expect to eliminate with the Noah Objective."

Dariela points to the screen, "What are those white dots?"

"Those are human casualties."

"Oh, my god." I put a hand over my mouth, "Over two million people will die if the Noah Objective goes forward. And Davies knows it."

"So General Davies knows his big animal solution will also kill millions of people. What the hell are we gonna do?"

I shake my head, "We're gonna stop him." As I say this the connection is lost. Chloe and Dariela go off to tell the boys about what's happening while I look through Eleanor's files and finally come across something. I walk into the lab area to tell Jackson walks going on and see Jackson and Mitch. "Hey guys, I got something."

"Kat, you gotta see this. Mitch found a link between Kovacs and the mutated animals."

I look over to Jackson, "Does that link include you?"

"Busted," Mitch comments.

I turn to Mitch and then back to Jackson with almost murder in my eyes. "Listen, I'm sorry."

"We agreed not to tell anyone."

"I know what we agreed to, Kat, but Mitch agreed"

"All right. Ross, Rachel. I see where this is going. I'm not interested in taking that ride. Women don't like to be lied to." Mitch looks over to Jackson.

I take a deep breath, "Moving on."

"Everybody knows that," Mitch whispers to Jackson as I lay the computer down, "What do you got?"

"So the vultures and ants found a way to alter our environment. I may have found another. General Davies transferred this animal to Vancouver yesterday. According to his report, it says that this sloth was capable of creating an earthquake in Costa Rica."

"I'm sorry, come again?" Jackson looks at me.

"Says here the sloth has developed a call that can generate a low-frequency infrasound?" Mitch reads the document on the laptop. "Really?"

"And that can cause an earthquake?" I look over to Mitch as he moves back to his desk.

"I don't know. I mean, a few years ago at a football game in Seattle, the Seahawks fans were jumping and cheering so much that it actually registered on a nearby seismograph."

Jackson turns toward Mitch as well, "So you're saying that General Davies' report is correct."

"We need that sloth. Clearly, its switch is turned on, and if I can understand his switch, might be able to figure out a way to keep yours from turning on at all."

"You think this little guy has got the Triple-Helix?"

"I'd put money on it. And understanding the Triple-Helix, that's the key to saving your life. Which is why your boyfriend was right in telling me."

I sigh and roll my eyes, "Let's go get our sloth. I'll tell Trotter we need to go to Vancouver."

When we area at the building the sloth should be in, in Vancouver, the building has been destroyed. Emergency teams, police, and EMTs are all around helping those who have been injured.

"You're sure this is the place?" Jackson asks as we get out.

"This is the address on the transfer order. Looks like someone got here first."

"Well, if the sloth was in there, it's dead."

"We don't know that."

Abe looks at us confused, "Um, I'm missing something. Why is it so important?"

Jackson takes a deep breath, "Yeah, listen, Abe, there's something that you should know…"

I cut Jackson off, "Mitch thinks the sloth can help make a cure."

"Well, if it's the sloth we're after, all we need is to walk in the rainforest of Brazil. At their speed, even you could catch one, Rafiki."

"We need this sloth. We've confirmed it has an advanced mutation."

Dariela walks up to the group. "An eyewitness saw military trucks."

"Davies was here." I sigh.

"Looks that way. They loaded a large crate and sped off just before an earthquake hit."

"That sounds like the sloth."

"You think this was caused by a sloth?" Dariela looks up to Jackson little confused.

"Yep, and he had help. You guys got to see this." Mitch calls out, after poking his head out of a manhole. We make out way down and to a dead end hall with four holes in it. "Moles."

"Moles?"

"Yeah. We got moles. Moles and sloths. Sounds like my dating life after I got divorced." Dariela jokes.

"Those tunnels look a little large to be mole tunnels." Jackson looks down to Mitch.

"That's why I said moles, plural. Very plural. Phenomenal creatures. You know, they smell in stereo. They got these sensory receptors on their nose. They're called Eimer's organs. Amazing."

"You're sure it's moles?"

"Yeah. See how these scratch marks are spaced out? Moles are polydactyl. Means they-they've got an extra thumb. Well, it's actually an extended wrist bone, acts like a thumb for digging."

I sigh, "Okay, mole fetish aside, you really think that moles attacked that building?"

"Yes, I do. It speaks to a whole new, higher level of mutation, because moles, they work alone. They only come together to procreate. Something we should all strive for."

"They brought down one building in a very large city. Do you think they were targeting the Noah Objective?"

"My guess is they were following the low-frequency vibration of the sloth." We walk down the hall as Mitch looks for something.

Then we hear an animal roaring somewhere down here, "All in favor of a swift exit?" Dariela looks around the group, as Mitch carries on.

Mitch finally stops mean we come to a large hole in the wall, "No. We got to follow the moles to get the sloth."

I shake my head, "I'm not going in there. Who knows what's in there."

Chloe takes a deep breath, "That's fine. These three can go and the other three will head back to the plane and track them."

Dariela comes back with headsets for everything, "Thought they'd be a good idea."

"I'm guessing you didn't ask for these?"

She shrugs her shoulders, "We're saving the world, plus they'll get them back."

I chuckle as Chloe, Abe, and I head back to the surface and to the plane before Mitch, Jackson, and Dariela start down the tunnel.

A few minutes later I hear Jackson in my headpiece, "I don't hear any animals."

"Do moles make a noise?" Dariela questions.

"Yeah. High-pitched squeak. Kind of like the ones I've been hearing from Abe's and Jackson's rooms lately." Mitch replies.

"Keep moving." Dariela and I comment at the same time.

"Mitch, you sure these things can't cave in on us?" Jackson asks.

"No. Moles are very precise little architects. All they do is work."

"You know, the more you talk about moles, the more I understand you," I comment.

"What are you trying to say?"

"She's trying to say that you love moles because you are one. And I have to agree." I hear Jackson read my mind.

"Hey, Chloe, we're flying blind here."

"Okay, I'm accessing your transponders. Should have eyes on you. Now, start rolling VPNs."

"I don't even know what a VPN is."

"Virtual Private Network. I'm gonna use Davies' satellite to track the team."

"You need to make sure Davies doesn't track us."

"If he runs a trace, could we reverse it, find his location?" I question.

"No, they're using an encrypted firewall. It will be like breaking into the CIA using a bobby pin."

"If you have access to all this, can't you get a satellite over New Brunswick? For Jamie." Abe asks.

"You're brilliant!"

"I just hope she's holding her own out there."

"I'm sure she's fine, kicking animal ass and all, all by herself."

"That's not good." Mitch comments.

"Hey, what do you see up there?"

"Uh, we have a little problem. Actually about a thousand little problems. Wall of dead moles. Hey, Chloe? We've hit a dead end. Literally. All right, Chloe, there's no trail left. We're coming out."

"Okay, uh, Mitch? I need you I need you to keep going."

"Chloe, there's nothing left to follow."

"I need you to keep moving."

"Keep moving where Chloe? Where are we headed? Come on, what do you want us to do next?"

"Hold on, I'm about to find the sloth."

Suddenly Mitch begins shouting. "Oh, God! Go back! Go back! Go back! Go back! Go back! Oh, crap! Chloe, find us a way out of here!"

"I need another minute."

"We don't have a minute! There's an alligator down here!"

"Did he say "alligator"?" I look over to Abe.

"Okay, okay! Finding a way out now! There's an exit! It's a few yards behind you, but you'll have to dig your way out."

"Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Jackson, move!" Mitch shouts.

"I'm trying!"

"Chloe? I don't see it. Where is it?"

"There's an access tunnel right in front of you."

"I think I got a shot!" Dariela exclaims.

"Are you crazy?! Jackson, dig faster!"

"I'm going as fast as I can!"

We hear the team in a panic as they try to get away and then nothing. "What's happening?"

"The tunnel collapsed" I sigh a sigh of relief upon hearing Jackson's voice.

"Chloe, get us out of here."

"One minute."

"Davies knows where they are," I comment to Chloe.

"That's what I'm counting on. Where are you, Davies? Got him. Cut the connection, Abe. Jackson, there's an exit ten meters behind you."

"What was that about?"

"It was about getting Davies' location. And I did. Plan B."

"B for "bait?" As I comment Chloe's face goes blank."What? Where were they coming from?"

"Reiden Global."

When the three of them get back to the plane I almost jump into Jackson's arms. They are all covered in dirt. Mitch doesn't even change before he starts examining a mole he had taken from the tunnel. Everyone else gets cleaned up.

When Jackson and I get back to the lab, Mitch has finished his tests, "So, we are officially looking at foul play."

"What do you mean?"

"Mass mole execution. Somebody turned those tunnels into a gas chamber."

"Well, it had to have been Davies. Davies must have known that the moles were following the sloth and took them out before they could create another sinkhole."

"I did some analysis on the gas. Not like anything I've ever seen before. And with airborne distribution? Perfect way to cull the animals. And, since we're still standing, it doesn't seem to have any effect on humans."

"Or half-humans, apparently." Jackson comments.

"Maybe. I mean, the gas is fast-acting, but might have just been really lucky timing."

"I thought about it, and, uh, I gotta tell Abe about my condition. All right? He has the right to know."

Mitch shakes his head "What, are you crazy? Even for a half-man, that is a full bad idea. Nothing against your bosom buddy, but his bosom buddy? Not too fond of mutants."

"I agree, Jackson, it's not safe."

"Abe is like a brother to me."

"Dariela was friends with Kovacs, right? She still shot him in the head." I cross my arms.

"That's true. That's a fair point."

Mitch comments, "Anyway, that's a five-week-from-now problem."

"Davies has a gas that he can use to kill with prejudice."

"Clearly, he's not afraid to use it."

"And we are trying to restore things to factory settings, and this sicko just wants to buy a new phone."

"About 20 quintillion new phones."

"And the best chance we have to stop him is inside the walls of Reiden Global."

"We'll need everyone's help for that."


	9. Chloe

The three of us talk to the others and get everything sorted out to try to break into Reiden Global. Abe and Dariela serve as our inside team, breaking into Reiden.

"It wasn't easy, but we're in. I hacked into the security feed." Dariela calls out over the walkie.

"Good work guys," I say, looking over to Chloe.

"When General Davies deployed men to the tunnels, this is where they came from, so it's a good bet he's keeping the sloth here."

"If I were a four-star psychopath, where would I hide a sloth? Maybe there." Dariela talks as she goes through the security cameras, Chloe and I can see which ones she's looking through on the TV in the conference room. "But how did he open the door? No retinal scan or fingerprint. Some kind of voice recognition?"

Chloe shakes her head."It was his heart-print. It recognizes his heartbeat."

"What?" Dariela questions.

I nod and look over to Chloe, "Every person's is unique."

"So to get through this door, we're going to need this man's heart?" Abe questions.

"Piece of cake." Dariela scoffs, "Looks like he's going out. We should go out with him."

"Or maybe he's staying in."

"Only Reiden would throw a party during the end of the world." Abe comments.

"Hold on," Chloe comments stepping toward the screen, "That's Senator Rowan. And Jonas Hofler. They're IADG leaders. Everyone you'd need to pass a vote on the Noah Objective is in that room. "

I take a deep breath, "The fact that they are all here means they're ready to vote. Davies must be moving up the timeline."

"We need to get into that party. Get the heart-print. We need to get the heart-print while he's busy talking to the VIPs."

"We're gonna crash the party of the guy who just sent men to kill us?"

"Yes."

I look over to Chloe, "I'll tell the boy's to get ready." I head down to the lab and get Jackson and Mitch, before rushing upstairs and getting ready. Jackson and I try our best to get dressed in the small room. "Still okay with a cramped room?"

"Yeah, I am." Jackson chuckles as he pulls his jacket on. "Do you need some help with the zipper?"

"Please." I smile and turn my back to Jackson as he zips the dress. I am in a red, knee length dress, with short sleeves that flares out at the end and black heels. When I walk into the conference room with Jackson everyone else is there.

"Wow..." Mitch comments as we walk in. "I'm sorry, isn't the idea not to be spotted. Davies saw you with Chloe, Jackson, and I, and no one is gonna miss you in that."

"Thank you? But the best way to stay hidden is to hide in plain sight."

"The woman has a point." Abe chuckles, "You look lovely Katherine. All of you ladies do."

We all smile up to Abe. The boys are all in black or navy blue suits, while Dariela is in a knee length sleeves purple dress, with a long necklace, and Chloe is in a black, knee length dress, with mesh paneling on the shoulders.

"Alright let's go."

When we get to the party the place is crawling with people. Jackson and I go one way, Dariela and Chloe go off together, and Mitch and Abe go off together.

"Are we clear to enter?" Jackson asks over the earpiece.

"Not yet. Stand by. Two minutes." Dariela answers.

Jackson and I step behind a large pillar and wait. "Look, I know you're still upset about me telling Mitch, and I had to. It was the right thing to do. He can help."

"I'm not upset."

"You've been a little... moody lately."

"I've been moody with everyone lately. I don't know why. But I was ready to quit, back in D.C. I was ready to give into the Noah objective, but I didn't because of you. My only thought was to fix you, save you."

"Yeah, that's not your job or your responsibility."

"It wasn't your job to save me the handful of times you have on this adventure."

"Actually it is, I am your fiance."

I smile, leaning against the pillar. "Whenever I'm scared, you just appear. That's your superpower, Jackson. You have a way of making people feel that everything's gonna be alright. No matter how dreadful things look. I know our responsibility is to our mission, but I need to find a balance between helping Chloe lead this team and somehow falling more and more in love with you"

Jackson smiles softly at me, before leaning in and kissing me. As he does we hear Dariela on the earpiece, "We're good to go. Jackson, Kat, do you copy?"

"uh, yeah." Jackson clears his throat. "Yeah, we copy." Jackson and I walk onto the floor and take two glasses of champagne from one of the waiters. "Excuse me."

"Ringo's approaching the stage." Dariela comments. "Target's at your ten."

Jackson and I walk up to one of the doctors at the party. "Hey Hi! So glad that you could make it."

"Uh me, too."

Jackson laughs. "He doesn't know who we are. Ken Adams. And Emma Simone. We work with General Davies."

"Yeah. He's had so many wonderful things to say about you. He's very impressed by your work. And so am I." I flash the man a flirty smile, as I do Jackson slips what Mitch calls 'a mickey,' into the man's drink. In the short of it, we just drugged this poor man.

Jackson claps his hands together, "Well, keep it up. Everyone's proud of you."

"Yeah, good work."

As the two of us walk away, I lace my arm through Jackson's and he takes a deep breath, "Gentlemen, the package has been delivered. Post up by the bathroom. He should be heading your way with the stomachache of a lifetime."

Before we get too far General Davies steps onto the stage, " Ladies and gentlemen, I'm happy to welcome you here on this special night. Now, I know many of you are still clinging to the hope that the "animal problem" will somehow rectify itself. I, unfortunately, am here to share with you that things have gotten a lot worse. Ladies and gentlemen, we must stop these animals. We finally have the means to do so. Allow me to introduce TX-14. A two-part gas. A fast-acting elimination agent and a neutralizer Which, when they combine, form a compound that only targets the mutation. Human beings will be safe, but every animal with the mutation will be destroyed. Tomorrow before the vote, we will give you a demonstration of the efficiency and the safety of this gas. But tonight enjoy yourselves. Get to know one another. For you will be sharing a page in the history books as the assembly that saved the world. Thank you."

"If the gas targets the mutation, you would be killed," I whisper over to Jackson.

"I won't be alone."

"The 2.2 million people, they're like you. Like Kovacs. How is that even possible?" I take a deep breath and shake my head.

Before our plan can go any further the man Jackson and I drugged collapses and one of the other doctor's rushes over to him. Dariela comments "Guys, we have a problem."

The group almost rushes to the exit, walking together calmly and quickly. "You were supposed to give him a case of the runs, not a heart attack." Jackson glances over to Mitch.

"A mild heart attack, he'll be fine."

Abe scoffs, "Slipping him a mickey. You said you'd done this before."

"I have. I mean, it was on a llama, but"

"A llama," I look over at him shocked. "I don't even want to hear the rest of that story."

Chloe sighs, "We need a new plan. We cannot leave without that sloth."

"Give me the Mic and meet me downstairs." Dariela takes the Mic from Mitch.

"What are you going to do?"

"Get you the heart-print."

The group heads downstairs and waits outside the door and wait for Dariela. We can hear her and Davies over the earpiece. "General Davies, can I steal you for a second."

"Of course, Miss, uh..."

"Diaz. From Senator Rowan's office."

"Ah. What can I do for you, Miss Diaz?"

"The senator wanted to let you know that you have her full support. She wanted to talk to you herself, but she can't because she's still working on some of her colleagues, winning them over."

Mitch groans, "She almost had it."

"Whatever you need from her, consider it done."

"Please thank the senator, that's very kind of her. But I just have one question, Ms. Diaz. Where are your friends? I saw you on the security footage from that Accelerator fiasco. That was a close call you had, wasn't it, Lieutenant Marzan? You're coming with me."

"Actually, General, you're coming with me."

Abe walks up and down the hall and I look over to him, "What are you doing?"

"Noting all the exits. Thanks to Mickey here, we're preparing to make a quick departure."

"What I said was, It should work."

"That's not how I remember it."

Dariela comes down the hall with Davies, "Oh, look, the gang's all here. Do you have any idea how many soldiers I have in this building?"

I shrug, "My guess is about 30. And every one of them is focused on the room with 200 VIPs."

Dariela pushes Davies toward the door and it opens. When it does we talk through it and Jackson turns to Davies, "Where's the sloth?"

Davies scoffs, "you took a four-star general hostage for a sloth? Well, this is a first, and it's gonna land you in deep..."

Jackson slaps Davies, "Where's the sloth?"

"Down there to the left, tough guy."

"Mitch, come with me. Abe, stay on Davies."

"Face the wall."

As Jackson and Mitch walk away I walk forward and turn to Chloe and Dariela. "Come with me."

The girls walk up next to me and wait until we are about 15 feet down the hall before Dariela ask, "Where are we going?"

"He gave up the sloth too quickly. He was fine with them going left."

Chloe nods, "So there must be something this way he didn't want us to find."

We walk for about two minutes before coming across airlock doors.

"Well, looks like your theory was right," Dariela comments as we walk in.

"The gas must be down here."

Chloe phone chimes and she looks down at it. "Jaime. She's in Caraquet."

I stop and look back at her. "What?"

"Yeah," She shows me the photo of a roof with CARAQUET spelled out in rocks.

"Keep up!" Dariela shouts. Chloe and I turn and quickly follow Dariela. Before long we come across two large tanks, one yellow and one blue. "Keep up! Bingo."

"The valves are closed. That's good."

"this one's the Neutralizer. So that's the poison." Chloe points of the colors coordinate with the video Davies played during his speech.

"There will be nothing to vote on if they can't do the demonstration." Dariela grins over to us. We kick off our heels and pick up one of the containers. As we go a red strobe light goes off and so does an alarm. "That's not good."

We do our best to carry the tank, but only two of us can at a time. As we hurry through the halls two soldiers spot us. "Target!"

"Take cover! I got this." Chloe and I hide as Dariela shots the two soldiers. But the tank has been hit.

"It's been hit. Run!" I shout as the three of us take off as fast as our legs will carry us.

We run until we get to the airlock doors and Dariela and I turn, to see Chloe begin swallowed by the wall of grey. "Chloe! Chloe! Chloe!"

Dariela and I shout. But before long Dariela hits the airlock doors and they close. As soon as they close Chloe hits the doors.

"Chloe! No." Dariela screams.

I rush up the doors to her, Chloe! No." Chloe tries to say something from the other side of the doors but I can't hear her. "I don't understand you. I don't understand. I don't understand. I'm sorry. I don't understand!"

As Chloe falls to her knees Dariela and I do as well, pounding on the door, crying, as we watch our friend, our sister suffocate.

"Damn it! Chloe! Chloe!"

"Chloe! Oh, come on. Come on! No!"

I fall back onto my butt and my body goes numb, as I hear a woman's voice, "Warning. Contamination detected. Air purification initiated."

I can barely hear Dariela, "Chloe!"

I see three other people rush by but I don't register who they could be. The doors open, "Air purification completed."

Then the doors open I see someone rush into the room and grab Chloe. The next thing I know we are back on the plane and I am wrapped in a blanket and Abe and Dariela is sitting in front of me. "Katherine, can you hear me?" I must have nodding or shrugged or something because Abe continues, "Do you know where you are?"

I snap back in and jump up, "Chloe!" I shout and try to run out of the room, but Abe stops me. Picking me up, as I kick my legs trying to get away. "Let me go!"

"You need to calm down." Dariela steps in front of me.

I look down at her. "You! Get away from me! You killed Chloe! You did this!" I scream and try to fight Abe off of me.

"Dariela go, I've never seen Katherine fight like this before."

Dariela leaves the room as I continue to fight Abe. "Let me go, Abe!"

"Not until you calm down!"

"CALM DOWN! SHE KILLED CHLOE!"

"And there's nothing you can do about it now!"

With those words, I stop fighting Abe and my bodies goes limp. When it does Abe sits me onto the couch and I go back into the almost trance state I was in before.


	10. Snakes

The next thing I know it's morning. Jackson and Abe are at the bar, Abe has changed his clothes, but Jackson hasn't. "This isn't happening." Jackson shakes his head.

"Jackson." Abe looks over at him.

"It can't be. I'm imagining it. I'm imagining all of it. She was trying to tell me something, Abe."

"What do you mean?"

"Before she died, she was trying to tell me something about The Courier."

"What is "The Courier"?"

"I don't know, but it was important to her."

I stand and take a deep breath, "Jamie's in Caraquet." I say softly, my cheeks stained with my mascara and tears.

Abe turns to me, "How are you feeling?"

"I just lost my best friend Abe."

Abe nods and looks down, as he does the plane feels like it is landing. Abe makes his way to the intercom on the wall, "What the hell's that? Trotter. Trotter!"

"It's not me. Someone else is flying the plane."

"What what does that mean, somebody else is flying the plane?"

Dariela walks into the room, "It must be Davies."

I glare at Dariela and Jackson stands and steps towards me, as Abe runs down the hall to get Mitch. When Mitch comes out of his room, he is in a robe, putting his glasses on, "Well, how?"

"He must have hacked our plane."

Trotter comes over the intercom, "Everyone strap in. We're landing, whether we like it or not."

With that, the group heads toward the door. Dariela hands everyone a gun and stuffing, "Stuff this in your ears and cover your eyes when they breach."

"Why?"

"Flashbangs. Two through the door. Then they come in shooting. That's what I would do. Flank the door. Get behind cover now." We all do as Dariela instructs and take over, "Hit 'em as soon as they come through that door. Don't let 'em hit first."

As the door opens a woman walks in with her hands up, "Hold your fire. Please don't shoot." She looks over the group and ends on Mitch, "That goes double for you."

"Who the hell are you?"

"This could've all been much simpler if you'd just picked up on the secure channel. We installed an emergency override just in case I ever needed to take remote control of my plane."

"Your plane?"

"Yes, mine."

The woman turns her attention back to Mitch, "Hello, Mitch."

"Allison."

I shake my head, "You two know each other?"

"She's my stepmom."

The woman walks into the kitchen and the group follows, sitting the guns on the counter. "Let's just start over, shall we? My name is Allison Shaw. I'm the Deputy Secretary of Defense and, yes, I was married to Mitch's father."

"Somebody else want to talk now?" Mitch crosses his arms.

"I do." Jackson steps forward, "We've been flying around on your stepmother's plane and you didn't think to tell us? Keeping secrets like this…"

" Mitch had no idea. I made sure of it. We haven't spoken in,"

"12 years,"

"12 years…"

"So why now, Allison? What do you want with us? Why'd you bring us here?"

"With Amelia gone and Eleanor gone, there's fewer of us left. We need to work together. We have to. My family owns the largest orchard on the West Coast, and our trees are all dying. I need your help to stop it."

"You just said that you work for the Pentagon, so why would you need our help?" I cross my arms.

"Because the government can't know anything about this. If Davies finds out that our food source is threatened, he'll use it to leverage additional resources to the Noah Objective. You're the only ones that I can trust."

Mitch nods, "So Chloe's dead. Jamie's in some Canadian…"

"Wait, Chloe's... Chloe's dead? What happened?"

"We disrupted General Davies' event in Vancouver and…" Abe lowers his head.

"I'm so sorry."

Jackson sighs. "Can you just back that up for a second? You knew Chloe?"

"She and Eleanor were the only ones who knew that I was behind your team. I've been secretly working against Davies, trying to find an alternative to the Noah Objective."

"Well, then, let us go find that alternative, okay? Because that's what Chloe wanted." Jackson straightens up.

"Please. I need you to come with me to my orchard."

"You know, we're not gonna go anywhere with you. You can keep your stupid plane. We'll find another way to get Jamie and find a cure."

Dariela nods, "What he said."

"Did Chloe ever mention "The Courier"?"

"Yeah, she did, right... What the hell do you know?" Jackson leans forward, his palms on the counter.

"You save my family's orchard, and this plane is yours, no strings. And I'll tell you everything." Since Allison brought the plan down close to her orchard, it doesn't take us long to get there, and when we do we quickly see the problem. "This time of the season, these branches should be heavy with fruit, but everything's stunted. It's stopped growing. It's the same story all over the area. And it's spreading."

Jackson stops and kneels by one of the trees, "Look at this stuff."

Mitch stops and kneeling down next to Jackson, "What are you?"

"It looks like glass to me, so that's what we've been calling it." One of the works walks up. "It poisons the trees. Soaks in through the roots. It's in the soil throughout the entire property. I've been working here half my life and I've never seen anything like it. At this rate, we won't produce a tenth of our normal yield."

"With no one eating meat anymore, fruit is more important than ever. If this continues to spread, hundreds of thousands of people will starve." Allison continues.

"And you think that an animal is behind this glass?" I look from the glassy subject to Allison.

"Well, it's not plant-based. And given your work connecting mutated animals to environmental events…"

Jackson stands, "If there is a connection, we'll find it."

"Then we can get the hell out of here." Mitch stands after taking a sample.

We spend most of the day walking around the orchard, not finding much. Jackson and I walk around, while the others look somewhere else. "How are you holding up?" Jackson asks, looking over to me.

I sigh and shake my head, "How am I holding up? Hmm… interesting question… I can't remember half of what happened that night. All I remember is Chloe laying there on the ground…"

As I start to cry Jackson pulls me into his chest, hugging me tightly, "Hey, it's okay. I miss her too. But it's gonna be okay."

The team walks around for a little longer before heading back to the plane. When we get back Mitch starts on his tests, Jackson and I stay with, while Abe and Dariela go off on their own.

"God, tell me we were that bad then we got together." I look over to Jackson.

"Nah, I think we were worse."

Mitch clears his throat. "Well, it's not glass. Thought that part was obvious. But bet you wouldn't have guessed it's organic. Cellular structure a lot like skin with, uh, traces of toxic residue that are definitely animal-based."

"Well, what animal do you think it's from?" I look to Mitch confused.

"I don't know yet. But if we're gonna make it to Caraquet, I better figure that out quick. Right? Oh, you two aren't here to talk about toxic glass are you? All right, look. If you want to talk about Allison..."

"Last night, when I was saying goodbye to Chloe, um I started crying…"

"Yeah."

"Well, black tears. They were thick, almost like oil."

"Anybody see this?"

"No."

I sigh, "You're displaying the same symptomology as Kovacs. Right before he escaped, we saw the same thing. It was black tears."

"So what does that mean, that I'm progressing? I'm one step closer to him?"

Before Mitch and I can answer Jackson, Allison comes in. "Okay, I get it. It's your plane. You've got to learn to knock."

"Not now, Mitch. Please, it's Bill. You have to help him."

We rush back to the house with Allison and we see Bill's wife on the porch, "He's in here." She rushes us into the bedroom, were Bill is groaning loudly.

"Bill, hey. Look at me. Can you speak?" Mitch places his hands on Bill's shoulders. "Can you speak? No." With that Bill almost throws himself into the dresser, spitting blood on the mirror behind it. Coughing up the glassy stuff from the orchard and holding it in his hands. "Is that the stuff from the orchard?"

"Mitch? Help him, for God's sake!" Alisson shouts.

Bill leans his head back and opens his mouth as a snake, yes you hear me a SNAKE, comes out of his mouth. Mitch shouts, "We gotta pull it out."

"Hold him." Jackson steps in front of Bill as Mitch steps behind him and holds him. Jackson grabs the snake and pulls it out of Bill's throat and mouth. As he does I grab a pillowcase and Jackson puts the snake inside the bag, before taking the bag.

When he does I let out a shaver, "God, I hate snakes!"

Sadly, even though we got the snake, Bill doesn't last long after Jackson pulls the snake from him. We head out to the truck as the police and EMTs arrive. Jackson has tied the bag and put the snake in the far back.

Mitch leans against the truck. "At least now we know it's poisoning the trees. That stuff he threw up, the glass, same stuff we saw in the orchard. Snake shed it like molted skin."

Jackson nods, "Given the amount of glass we saw in the orchard, there must be thousands of snakes."

"So where are all the snakes hiding?" Allison crosses her arms.

"Snake came in through the toilet, right?"

"It certainly looks like it."

"I think I got an idea. There is the aquifer that runs underneath your property."

"It supplies water to all the farms in the county." Allison nods.

"My thought is that the snakes are shedding their toxic glass directly into your farm's water supply."

"What about the drinking water?" I glance over to Jackson.

Allison sighs, "The county draws it from the river, so at least we don't have to worry about contamination."

"But we do. Your aquifer feeds into tons of other public water sources for hundreds of miles. Your farm is only the beginning."

"So these snakes, they're going to poison the entire Pacific Northwest."

"Countless innocent people are gonna be drinking poison directly from their kitchen sinks unless we do something." Jackson takes a deep breath as he wraps his arm around me, as I'm trying to keep somewhat warm.

"So how do we stop it?"

"Poison them. Before they poison us." Mitch sighs.

We head back to the plane and put the snake in a tank. Jackson and I leave the lab, letting Allison and Mitch talk about how to deal with the poisoning of the snakes. Jackson and I head to our room and snuggle on the bed.

"When was the last time I told you how beautiful you are?"

"Last night."

"When was the last time I told you I loved you?"

"Two days ago," I answer Jackson's questions as I fiddle with the end of his button down.

"When was the last time we talk about starting our own family?"

"About a month ago."

"Really? That long?"

I nod, "We got busy trying to save the world again."

Jackson takes a deep breath, "Yeah that's true."

"Hey, if we had a little girl, what would you think about naming her, Chloe?"

"I think that is a great idea."


	11. Jamie

As Jackson and I begin to drift off to sleep Mitch comes over the intercom, "Uh we got a problem in here."

Jackson and I jump up and head down to the lab and see the snake is out of the tank and on the floor. Dariela and Abe come rushing down the stairs, "Are you okay?"

"Uh, for the moment."

I look over to Mitch, "Where's the poison?"

"Einstein over here drank it." Allison gestures toward Mitch.

"You did what?"

"I was making a point."

"You know for a smart guy, you're an idiot."

Dariela moves to leave. "I'll get the tranqs."

Jackson shakes his head, "I got this." Jackson slowly moves towards the snake, "Easy. Easy."

The snake hisses loudly and lunges forward toward Jackson, "Baby, are you sure you want to do this?"

"Easy." Jackson moves closer to the snake. It lunges again, but then it gets to the bite scar on Jackson's arm it stops, allowing Jackson the few seconds he needs to pick it up. When Jackson has the snake he puts it back in the tank.

"Okay, can we put him somewhere he won't knock his tank off the counter, please. I don't wanna have to walk around worried the snake got out." I shiver.

Abe looks over to Jackson shocked, "Rafiki, how did you…"

"We should talk…" Jackson cuts him off.

Allison sighs, "Give me the formula for the poison. I'll have my guy start synthesizing it."

Mitch looks over his shoulder to her, "And then we can leave for Caraquet?"

"Yes, we can."

"We?"

Allison looks over to Jackson, "You can explain on the way."

Mitch give the poison instructions to Allison who sends an email to her people to get started on it, while Jackson explains himself, "Mitch, thinks that I have the same mutation as the animals and Kovacs."

Abe shakes his head, "Why did you not tell us this before?"

"I wanted to."

Mitch sighs, "Katherine and I shut it down."

"But why?" Abe looks from Mitch to me.

"What if he goes berserk and starts attacking people like Kovacs did?" Dariela crosses her arms.

Allison takes a deep breath, "She's right. Is it even safe for Jackson to be here?"

I scoff, "Well, like it or not, he has to be. Because without him, we have no cure."

Mitch takes a deep breath, "All right. There's something you all should see." Mitch pulls up a diagram of DNA and a diagram of Jackson's. "This is the DNA molecule we all came to know and love in high school biology. Double helix. Two strands of genetic information, elegantly entwined together. This is what Jackson's DNA looks like. The mutation has caused it to develop a third strand. And this structure isn't unique to just Jackson. He shares it with the vultures, the ants, the sloth, the snakes."

Abe nods, "So tell us about the cure."

"Well, Jackson is the key. Because this Triple-Helix structure isn't the only thing his DNA shares with these animals. They also share genomic fossils. Extinct genes. Genetic instructions that were silenced millions of years ago, thought to be non-functional until now. If you think of the rungs on a ladder, each rung contains genomic fossils from a different animal. If I can identify each one, and its animal source, I should be able to come up with a cure and reverse the mutation. We already know four, and they all check out."

I sigh, "So that leaves us three more animals to identify and capture."

"Once we've identified all seven genomic fossils, I should be able to eliminate that third strand."

Dariela sighs, "Sounds like you got your work cut out for you."

Jackson looks over to Dariela, "We could use your help. Be good to have you with us on the team. What do you say?"

Dariela looks over Jackson for a minutes before nodding, "Copy that."

With that Jackson and I head back to the room. Once we are at the end of the hall I hear Dariela call out to us, "Nice pep rally in there."

Jackson turns to me, "Head up, I'll be there in a minute." I nod and give him a quick kiss before heading up the stairs, what Jackson and Dariela don't know is that I stop at the top of the stairs and can still hear their conversation. "Wasn't a pep rally. It's, uh, it's the truth. I'm glad you're gonna stay with us."

"I know you are. But you don't want me on the team because of the way I make blueberry pancakes or to borrow my hip-hop mixtape. You want me here to put a bullet in your head if you end up like Kovacs."

"That's right. Mitch, Abe, Kat, they won't be able to."

"But I can… Because… because I shut the door on Chloe… Maybe you're right. Maybe I did have three seconds. Maybe not. I hesitated. Maybe if I hesitated more, Chloe would be alive. But you... you go sideways, like the monster that killed my friends? I won't hesitate. That's a promise."

When I hear Jackson come back down the hall I quickly rush to the room and lay in the bed, laying as still as I can with my back to the door. I hear Jackson come in and feel him place his hands on my back. A few minutes later he places his head and my head and kisses the side of my head, before leaving the room. He must think I'm exhausted enough that I just passed out. While he is not wrong, I am exhausted, I just don't want to think about what he asked Dariela to do. So I go to sleep in hopes that I'll forget everything.

When I wake up I am woken up Jackson lightly shaking my shoulder. "Kat, wake up. We landed." I look over to him as I wake up and he smiles, "It's time to go get Jamie."

I nod and jump up, the team had already gotten everything ready so we rush out of the plane and to a schoolyard where there are three polar bears attacking the people who had held up there. We manage to tranq the bears and make our way through a crowd of smoke. When we get to the other side of the grey wall we see Jamie running towards up. Jamie jumps into Mitch first, before looking over his shoulder and seeing me. When she and I get to each other, we hit each other with some force, the two of us running toward one another, and drop to the ground.

We head back to the plane with Jamie and a man named Logan. Jamie is shocked up the plane, but when she gets back she looks to us, "Where's Chloe?"

Abe sighs, "Why don't you take a shower first and we can talk about that later."

Jamie's face goes white as if she knows what happened to Chloe. When she gets out of the shower she heads to the living room area so I can wrap her foot. She had lost a toe during her ordeal.

"No one's talking about Chloe."

I take a deep breath, "Really not much to say. She's gone."

"No one will tell me how."

"Your old pals at Reiden Global."

"What? They weren't prosecuted?"

"No, and as a matter of fact, the Noah Objective gave them a government contract to develop this splendid new gas called TX-14, that will effectively wipe out all the evil animals oh, and about 2.2 million human beings. You missed a lot."

"Chloe Please…" Jamie begs me to tell her what happened.

I take a deep breath, "They were gonna do a demonstration on a bunch of animals using the gas, but Chloe, Dariela, and I stole it. Tried to stop them, but we got shot at by a bunch of General Davies' men. But the tank we were carrying with the poison in it, got shot, and gas started leaking out, and we all would've died, but…"

"But what?"

"Dariela and I thought Chloe was right behind us, but she wasn't. When the gas got to the doors, Dariela… she, uh, sealed the doors. Trapped the gas inside. The gas and Chloe."

"So this Dariela killed my friend?"

"I don't like it either. Okay, but she did what she thought she had to do."

"Could I be alone?"

I nod and finish wrapping her foot, "Yeah." I take a deep breath, before heading down to the kitchen where Jackson is talking to Allison.

"What's The Courier?"

"Just give me a minute."

Jackson closes the laptop Allison is looking at, "You don't have a minute, okay? We had a deal. We saved your orchard. Now tell me what Chloe's last words meant."

"Okay. Um a few months ago, we found something. At first, it sounded like a hoax, but then Chloe sent in her report from Patagonia, and the connection was undeniable."

I walk closer to the two of them, "Patagonia."

"Mm-hmm."

Jackson sighs, "And she didn't want to tell us."

"She wanted to, I advised her against it. Until we knew more about this." Allison walks into the lab and takes out an older brown briefcase.

"What is this?"

"This is a newspaper called The Worldwide Courier."

"Never heard of it."

"Not many people have."

"So what about it?"

" Well, these are a few of the headlines, Blood Rain Decimates Crops. Ants Create Lightning. Earthquakes Caused by Sloths. Sound familiar?"

I nod and step beside Jackson, looking at the papers over his shoulder, "Yeah, those are the events created by the Triple-Helix animals, so what?"

"Look at the date."

I look down at the date's on the papers which reads 1895, "Is this some sort of joke?"

"No, These were written in 1895."

"Are you saying that all of this has happened before?" Jackson sits the papers down on the table.

I shake my head, "We need to talk about this with everyone." I look over to Jackson who nods in agreement.

Everyone gathers in the lab and Mitch, being one of attention, stands in the middle of us. "All right, we've seen a lot of weird stuff, but this?"

"We verified their authenticity. These articles are very real."

"The animals also did this in 1895?" Abe looks over at Jackson.

"Only the animals causing environmental changes, the Triple-Helix animals. The same ones we need for the cure."

"We?" Jamie questions looking over to Dariela.

"For the cure, we need the genomic fossils of seven specific animals." Mitch begins to pace.

"If Triple-Helix animals have been around over a hundred years, why are we just hearing about them now?" Jamie shakes her head.

"The Worldwide Courier was viewed like a tabloid. The 'I Saw Bigfoot on a Date with Elves' of its day, people thought they were fiction."

"Bigger problem is, there's nobody alive to verify this. No eyewitness. These articles tell us nothing."

Jackson shakes his head, "Actually, they do show us something. All right, these articles they show all the animals so far that have caused environmental changes, right? The sloth, electric ants, snakes."

"You guys have come across all of that?" Jamie looks around the group.

I nod, "Yeah, like I said, you missed a lot."

Jackson continues. " Yeah, but we haven't heard anything about the jellyfish, right? Especially jellyfish that causes hurricanes. So at the very least, these papers show us what animal we're looking for next."

Logan kind of raises his hand, "Can I ask a dumb question? How can jellyfish cause hurricanes?"

Mitch scoffs, "There are no dumb questions, Lionel, only dumb people."

"It's Logan."

"Logan. Jellyfish can affect the climate by generating heat. You get enough of them together, they can, they can raise the water temperature, cause a pretty powerful surface wind."

Abe crosses to the computer and opens the Global radar, "I may have found something. Global radar currently shows five hurricanes, one of which hasn't moved in 48 hours."

I walk over to him, "Storms aren't stationary." I look over the screen, "Looks like we're heading to Portugal."

Mitch shakes his head, "Hang on a minute. We might have an eyewitness. There are a lot of different species of jellyfish in the North Atlantic near Portugal, one of which is the Turritopsis dohrnii. It's also known as the immortal jellyfish. It can regenerate its cells over and over, so it has the ability to revert back to adolescence whenever it's injured."

Jackson nods, "So if we can find this jellyfish from 1895, maybe we can figure out how it caused these environmental changes and figure out how to stop it."

Abe sighs, "I think we're forgetting something. Jellyfish have a very poisonous sting. And if mass quantities are causing hurricanes, it won't be as simple as just fishing one out."

Allison clears her throat, "I may have a way to help with that. I'll, uh, make some calls. Mitch, would you tell Trotter to change course to Portugal, then come and see me?"

Mitch nods, "Whatever you say, boss."

"Actually, I'm not the boss. You are."


	12. Moe

The landing in Portugal is rough, but that is to be expected due to the hurricane in the area. To make matters worse Dariela and Jamie got into a fight while we were landing. We break the two of them up and keep them separated, but I have to say Jamie did something I've wanted to do since Dariela closed that door on Chloe.

The group gathers back in the cargo bay when we land, "Alright, uh, listen up. The guy who has our jellyfish, his name is Duncan Santos. He's the local venom dealer here in Lisbon because God knows every city needs one of those."

"What else do we know about him?" I cross my arms.

"Biochemical genius. Did some time for producing a whole bunch of LSD. He also made a ton of money developing antivenom, which was in short supply after the animals went nuts. He's a war profiteer is what he is. He also did a little time in a psych ward. Sipping too much of his own sauce."

"So, we're going after a crazy, drug-addled venom dealer in the middle of a hurricane?"

"Yes, because that is what we do."

Jamie sighs "Let's get this over with."

Allison stops her and Logan, "Not so fast. I'm afraid I can't let you two go with the rest of them."

As Jamie, Logan, and Allison talk, Jackson stops me, "I don't want you going either."

"Why? Dare I ask?"

"I don't trust Logan, Jamie does so one of us needs to stay with the two them."

I nod and take a deep breath, "Okay." Jackson pulls me into him before giving me a kiss before he, Mitch, Abe, and Dariela leave.

Allison questions Jamie and Logan while the others are gone, giving me very little to do, so I end up looking over some of Mitch's research. As I sit in the lab I look around and notice that the Triple Helix animals we have in the lab are acting rather normal. I shake it off and go back to looking over Mitch's findings.

Finally, Jamie finds me in the bar, "I can't get over this place. Beats the hell out of those hotel bars from last year."

"Yeah, well, I don't know."

"We had some pretty good times in those bars."

Dariela walks through the bar and to the bedrooms on the other side. I take a deep breath, "Much as I hate saying it, she's really not all that bad. She made a tough call. She hides it well, but I know it's eating her up inside"

"So you're saying, what, that I should forgive her."

"What I'm saying is, you weren't there and I froze. None of you know what you would have done in that moment."

Jamie nods and I head down to the lab to check out the jellyfish the group brought back. "Hey, so this is the little guy."

"Yup, I named him Moe," Mitch comments looking over to me.

"Well, what does Moe tell us?"

"A lot, actually. First thing I noticed in his cell sample, radiation, lots of it. We can pinpoint the exact year he was exposed to radiation."

"Let me guess, 1895?"

"The same year as our Courier articles. The radiation exposure, environmental events, all of it."

"You think that they're all connected?"

"Look around. Anything's possible."

Allison nods, "Speaking of anything being possible, Logan Jones checks out. He has a shady past, but he just wants to help."

"You sure about that?" Mitch looks over to her, "Because he really seems like he's trying too hard."

"Maybe. But I think that we have a bigger problem."

Mitch nods and looks over to me. "Could you give us a minute?"

I nod and leave the room, heading into the hall and making my way around to the other kitchen door. When I get there I can hear Abe and Jackson.

"I'm not a fool, Rafiki. I saw the look in your eyes when Dariela drew on you. It was a look of the man ready to die."

"Yeah. I know. You gotta know something, Abe. That wasn't me."

"You think I don't know that? Let me tell you something. You may be ready to die, but I am not ready to let that happen. And you know what a stubborn son of a bitch I can be."

I step into the room and Jackson smiles at me, "What is Abe being a stubborn son of a bitch about?" Jackson shakes his head and shrugs his shoulders, holding an ice pack against his hand. "Oh, what did you do to your hand?"

"When head to head with one of Davies' mean that was sent for me."

I walk over to Jackson and take the ice pack from him, before gently kissing his hand. I know it looks and sounds childish, but whenever one of us gets hurt like this the other kisses it, if for nothing more then to make us feel cared about.

As I look up to Jackson, Allison points her head into the room. "Jackson, Katherine, Mitch wants to see you."

We nod and head into the lab, "You wanted to see us?"

Mitch nods, "I think I know how this gas is gonna kill 2.2 million people."

"What, the, uh, jellyfish tell you that?" Jackson points over to Moe.

"His name is Moe. And yes. Okay, Moe has a Triple-Helix, just like you."

"Well, we knew that, right?" I look over to Mitch.

"Right. But what we didn't know is what caused it. Thanks to Moe getting blasted by radiation, now we do."

"I'm sensing a Mitch Morgan theory coming on."

"Lucky for you, Mitch Morgan's theories are usually right. I think radiation mutated one of his genes, causing it to sprout a Triple-Helix."

"Well, that's good news, right? I mean, genes can be changed, so now you know what you need to do to fix it."

"Well, sort of. The problem is I can't find the gene."

"What do you mean you can't find the gene? It's not a set of car keys. How do you even know it exists?" Jackson shakes his head.

"Where there's a plant, there's a seed, right? And you, my friend, are a pretty messed-up plant, that means someplace inside of you is a pretty messed-up gene. Although I can't see it, I can sense it, I know it's there. I'm calling it the ghost gene."

I chuckle, "It's a little melodramatic, don't you think?"

"When you have your own scientific breakthrough, you feel free to call it what you want."

"All right, so this gas must target this ghost gene, is that right? Well, how could Davies create a gas that targets a gene that you can't even find?"

"Excellent question that I don't have a theory about."

"I mean, the guy's smart, but he's not playing on this level."

"Yeah, he'd have to have somebody even smarter than me to figure it out."

Jackson shakes his head, "Who the hell does he have working for him?"

I sigh, "Whoever it is, is no friend of ours."

As I shake my head, Dariela comes into the lab, "Allison wants to speak to us all upstairs."

When we get to the conference area, we sit and look up at the screen, which has a picture of Moe. "Thanks to your escapades in Lisbon, we now have an eyewitness to the 1895 Courier events. It's not as if jellyfish have eyes."

Mitch shakes his head, "No, they don't. Nor do they have brains or hearts. What they do have is immortal cells. Cells that tell us that this guy was exposed to a whole bunch of radiation back in 1895."

"Enough to cause a genetic mutation. A mutation that I am calling…"

"The ghost gene," Jackson says quietly look up at Mitch.

"Thanks, man, for stealing my thunder. Anyway, the ghost gene is what's causing the Triple Helix to develop in all the animals we've seen."

Abe turns and looks back to Mitch, "Where does this radiation come from?"

"Excellent question, Abraham." Mitch clicks a button on the remote and the screen changes to a man. "Meet Leonard Pierce. Pseudo-scientist, thief, entertainer. Right after the X-ray was invented, Leonard stole the technology, traveled around the globe x-raying animals and any people who were stupid enough to give him a dime. Any guesses where he picked up this vulture?"

I glance up to Mitch, "Argentina?"

"Wow, you guys are good."

"Does this mean that all Triple-Helix animals are descended from the ones that Pierce x-rayed? Even the ants?"

"Well, I'm guessing the ants got zapped on accident, but yeah."

Dariela turns in her chair, "What about Kovacs?"

"Kovacs' great-great-grandfather lived in Budapest around the time that Pierce rolled through. He must've been x-rayed by Pierce and then passed this ghost gene down to Kovacs."

Jackson takes a deep breath, "What about me? I mean, did my dad have the, uh ghost gene?"

"Truth is either one of your parents could've given it to you. I haven't found a link yet between your ancestors and Pierce, but it's got to be there."

"So, you're saying that some traveling carnie grifter from the 1890s inadvertently invented the Triple-Helix." Jamie looks over to Mitch a little confused.

"Yeah, that is exactly what I'm saying. And if we are gonna un-invent it, we've got to find descendants from every one of those animals that he zapped."

"Eventually Pierce set up shop in Holbeach, England. But as his animals started showing troubling side effects, he closed his doors and hid his work. And now, we are gonna go find it." Allison states, crossing her arms. "We tracked down Pierce's last known address. If you guys can find the complete list of animals he x-rayed, we can stop chasing storms. We'll know exactly what animals we need for the cure."

"Jay on top, we should be able to do it in time to save everyone."

Trotter comes on over the intercom, "Wheels down in 20 minutes."

At the end of our meeting I head to the bedroom and after a while, I notice that it's been a while since Jackson told me he'd be in. When I head out to the living room area I hear the cargo bay door open. When I make my way into the sitting room and bar area I see Mitch and Allison sharing a drink and Dariela walks in.

"We have a problem. A few problems maybe. Jackson just took off in one of the trucks."

We head out to find Jackson. Following the road leading off from the plane until we find the truck in a field. When we stop I jump out of the truck, "Jackson…"

Abe jumps out and stops me, "Stay back. Let me handle this." Abe walks toward Jackson who is shoveling dirt. "Jackson, what are you doing?"

"We have to bury Chloe!"

"Jackson…"

"We have to bury her, you understand? We have to bury Chloe."

"Jackson, we sent her body back to France."

"No, no, no…"

"Her family's going to bury her. Remember! Rafiki!"

"We have to bury her."

"Come back to me." Abe snaps his fingers before Jackson starts to repeat.

"All Good Children Are Growing Teeth," repeating it over and over. "All Good Children Are Growing Teeth. All Good Children Are Growing Teeth."

Jamie walks up next to Mitch. "He's not making any sense."

I shake my head and look back to Mitch, "Yes, he is."

Mitch nods and says, "We know exactly what he's saying. That's the key to everything."


	13. Jackson

When we get to the plane Jackson is making no sense, he is still in a very unwell state and is looking around the lab for something.

"Jackson, honey, what are you looking for?"

"Tracking chip."

I shake my head and sigh softly as Mitch walks in, "What what the hell are you," As Mitch walks up Jackson injects himself with a tracker. "What are you doing?"

"Now you don't have to worry about me wandering off again."

I shake my head, "Oh, so you think a tracking chip…"

"A poorly placed one, I might add."

"Thank you, Mitch… you think a tracking chip is gonna keep me from worrying."

"Guys, it's been a long night, okay?" Jackson starts to walk off.

As I step to follow him Mitch sighs pulling out a notebook Jackson had been writing in, "Need you two to look at this."

Jackson scoffs as he looks down at it, "What, so you can just rub it in my face that I'm losing my mind? You don't have to, Mitch, I'm aware."

"Oh, I don't think you're losing your mind. In fact, I think we might have found something in your mind."

I shake my head, "What are you talking about?"

"I think what happened tonight is some kind of dissociative fugue, and it-it may have erased some recent memories, but I-I think it may have surfaced some other, more remote ones. 'All Good Children Are Growing Teeth.' All three of us know that's a mnemonic. It's a genetic sequence. That's not just any genetic sequence. That's the first six nucleotides of the ghost gene. And you're gonna tell me the rest." Mitch points to Jackson.

"Uh I-I-I don't know it."

"Oh, come on. Y-You've seen this before. Okay? Your dad was neck deep in this stuff. Maybe-maybe he knew it, maybe he showed it to you. But when we were talking earlier, about the gene, that triggered something, some kind of memory."

"Whatever it triggered is gone. If the animals have the ghost gene and so do I, why don't you just get it from my DNA?"

"Yeah, well, I'm trying. But the human genome contains about three billion base pairs and upwards of 30,000 genes. And with your bonus helix, that makes it a lot more. Okay? I'm running sequencing software around the clock, but we are running out of time."

I lean against the nearby desk, "Well, what happens if you can't find it?"

"The cure's like a bomb. One that's gonna nuke the Triple-Helix. Okay? And the sequence is like an address. If I don't have that address, I have no idea where to deliver the bomb."

"So without the sequence, the cure's useless."

Mitch nods and puts his arms out as Abe walks in, "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah,"

"No"

Mitch and Jackson answer simultaneously. Mitch takes a deep breath and turns to Jackson, "You're the only one who can help me with this."

Jackson nods, "You know what, Abe? We're gonna we're gonna hang back."

"Is everything okay?"

"Peachy," I comment rubbing my forehead.

Mitch nods, "Yeah. It'll be even peachier once you get to Pierce's and find that list of animals."

"Okay…" Abe looks between the three of us before he takes his leave.

When he leaves Mitch starts to set up some kind of test. Having Jackson lay on one of the medical beds and hooking him up to an IV. "What are you doing?"

"We call this cognitive repression reversal. See, your brain is like a rusty old file cabinet. It just needs a little grease on the hinges, and memories come popping right out."

I sigh, "and by grease you mean?"

"Cholinesterase. It's a sedative. Hypnotic. Who says we never do anything fun together, huh?" Mitch smiles down at Jackson, "Okay, you ready?"

"No," Jackson shakes his head.

"Alright," Mitch shrugs his shoulders and walks away taking his gloves off.

"Really? I thought you'd just ignore what I want."

"Well, of course, I did. Hit the button, like, three seconds ago."

"How fast…" Jackson leans back onto the bed and takes a series of deep breaths, as his pupils dilate.

I sit next to him and take his hand, "Just breathe."

"Think about your father. Think about any time that he mentioned genetics."

"He didn't talk about genetics. M-M-Mostly biology." Jackson takes another series of deep breaths.

"Maybe he had the sequence written down somewhere."

Jackson shakes his head, "He didn't leave papers lying around his lab. Just the office and… wasn't allowed in there."

I sigh softly and place my other hand on his forearm, "All right. Just relax." Jackson lays his head back and closes his eyes. He smiles slightly for a moment. When Jackson opens his eyes again he looks around like he's looking for something. "What is it? What did you see?"

"A ghost." He takes a deep breath.

"Just remember, these are your memories. You're in control." Mitch comments as he begins to pace around us.

"Control? Yeah, right. Because I've had so much of that lately. Let's just do this."

Mitch nods and hits the button on the IV stand again, "I need you to forget about the lab for a second. Focus on your dad's office. Maybe you overheard what he was working on in there."

"Hard not to overhear him. The more tapes he made, the less we saw of him. He just started getting consumed by his work. He started to go down a very dark path."

I shake my head, "Are we talking about human testing?"

Jackson scoffs, "Testing, makes it sound more legitimate. I saw the tests they did on the animals, and this was this was gonna be different. Other people must've realized it, too, 'cause there was an accident. At least, that's what the police called it. There was a fire, He was never the same after that. The fire not only took his lab, it took his sanity. It took his credibility. It took him away from us."

I sigh and take a deep breath looking over to Mitch. Jackson looks over to me and smiles a sleepy, drugged smile, "You're beautiful, you know that?"

I chuckle softly, "Kind of hard to believe you when you're drugged up."

Mitch clears his throat, "I know you don't want to hear this, but I'm starting to realize why your dad went off the deep end. We lost one cure already. If somebody trashed all our work, that be enough to loosen my screws."

"It wasn't a happy time in the Oz household"

Mitch hits the button again, "So, what? Did he start bringing his work home with him?"

"After that, rage is all he brought home with him. Rage. I had to get the hell out of there. Mom and I needed to get new passports because they got burned in the fire, in dad's office."

"You said you were never allowed in your dad's office."

"I wasn't."

"So, how did you know where the passports were?"

"I don't know."

"You said you were never allowed - in your dad's office."

"I wasn't, I don't know why I said the thing about the passports. I was never in his office."

"I know you want to believe that."

"Hey, if you think I'm lying, then just say it, huh? Come out and say it. Don't patronize me."

"I don't think you're lying. I think you're repressing. Freud called it "screening," okay? You're protecting yourself from a potentially painful memory."

"I need a break."

Mitch shakes his head, "No, no, not right now. We can't take a break. We're too close. We cannot take a break right now."

"I need a break, Mitch! I need a break."

I stand next to Jackson as he sits up, "Chloe died trying to save the world. You're telling us you can't face your daddy issues?"

Jackson nods and lays back, as Mitch presses the button, Jackson goes back into his drugged state, "I'm in my father's lab. The cages the cages are empty. I'm freeing the animals... I'm in his office. How did I get in?... I see the passports. They're on fire. The gene sequence. It's on the wall. The wall is burning. Everything's on fire."

"Who started the fire, Jackson?"

Jackson opens his eyes, "I'm the one that burned down my dad's lab. All of his research. His whole life's work. Because of me. And I I thought that I was saving him. Keeping him from crossing the line. But all I did was ruin his chance at saving the world." Mitch hands Jackson a notepad and he finished the sequence. "Congratulations. You were right."

"Sorry." Mitch looks at Jackson as he puts the button on the IV stand.

"What are you sorry for? I'm the one that destroyed everything." Jackson sighs as he takes the IV out of his hand and slowly walks away from the two of us.

Jackson heads upstairs and takes a shower, when I knock on the door and open it Jackson is rubbing a spot on the back of his neck, "Hey, you okay?"

Jackson shakes his head, "I think the drug is still in my system." He clears his throat. "Hey, does it look like I have a scar on my neck?" Jackson turns his back to me, "under the hairline?"

I look over his back. "None that you haven't had since I've known you." I lean in and kiss his still wet shoulder. "Why?"

"I think my father gave me an injection." Jackson quickly gets dressed and rushes down to the lab to find Mitch, "My father knew."

Mitch shakes his head, "Gonna need a little more context."

"He knew I burned down his lab. I remembered, he approached me about it. Confronted me before I left for Africa."

"Um Look, you were, you were just a kid."

"No, Mitch, look."

"I'm sure your dad had a good…"

"He, he gave some sort of injection. Some sort of shot. I always thought it was a birthmark. But now."

Mitch takes a deep breath, "Well, that would explain it."

I look from Jackson to Mitch, "Explain what?"

"Remember when I said that I couldn't determine which one of your parents you inherited the ghost gene from? That was because there was anomalous material in your DNA, which I thought was just an inconsistency in the, in the test method, but if the methodology was sound…"

"What are you saying?"

"Maybe you didn't inherit the gene. Maybe somehow your dad created a synthetic version of it, and he injected you with it."

"You're saying that my father did this? That everything that I am going through is because of him? Why would he do that?"

I rub my face and sit down onto one of the chairs. What kind of father does that to his child? I shake my head and head upstairs. Jackson lightly grabs my wrist, I just smile and shake my head, "I'm gonna… gonna go take shower."

"Mind if I join you?"

"Think you could handle two showers in one day?" I laugh softly as Jackson and I head upstairs.


	14. Sloth

The team continued to search for more Triple Helix animals that we need to help find the cure and figure out how to help Jackson. We had managed to get the sloth and thanks to our trip to England we have bones that have helped us figure out what we're looking for, we know all the animals but one. Dariela had stayed behind in England to help more people to safe zones, but oddly enough we find ourselves in Miami, trying to find some flash freezing lizard. We tried to use nitrous oxide on the little guy, but it didn't work and we had to inject him with a sedative. Once we catch him we put the poor guy in a freezer, if he's happy in the cold, why deny him the cold.

I sigh and look over to Jackson as he and Abe put the freezer into one of the trucks, "I always imagined if we came to Miami it would be for the beach, not a lizard."

"Yeah, maybe we can come back sometime, spend the whole day at the beach." Jackson steps towards me and wraps his arms around my waist and I place my hands on his shoulders.

"You mean when flash freezing lizards aren't running around."

Jackson nods as he leans his forehead against mine. Mitch clears his throat. "Why do you two do that?"

I turn to Mitch, "do what?"

"You two rub your heads together like you're lions or something… it's weird."

I shrug my shoulders, "I don't know, we've always done that."

Abe walks over and places his hand on my shoulder, "I think it's cute. You two are both strong and resolute like lions, why not act like them a little bit."

I chuckle and roll my eyes before the group gets into the two SUVs we brought out with us and head back to the plane. When we get back to the plane the boys rush the lizard inside, we don't want to start tests on him and for him to wake up in the middle of it. When we get inside Mitch drills some air holes into the top of the freezer.

"First time we captured a Triple-Helix animal before it was able to create an environmental catastrophe," Jackson comments as he and Abe find a place for our new freezer.

Jamie walks in a few minutes behind us with Logan, "Local authorities have been notified in case any more flash-freezing lizards turn up in Florida."

"Well, we're gonna try and have a cure before they do."

I sigh softly, "So, what's the last Triple-Helix animal that we need to track down?"

"I don't know yet." Mitch sighs, "The rest of these bones, I could put together with my eyes closed. The vulture, the sloth, the snake. Lizard. This last set just doesn't make any sense. Gonna take me a while to figure it out."

I nod and look over to Jackson, who starts coughing. Coughing up what looks like tar. " Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah. I'm fine." Jackson grabs a paper towel and wipes his mouth, as he walks away.

I follow him and stop him outside the kitchen, "Jackson, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Really, I'm fine."

"We're going to fix this. We have to."

Jackson scoffs, "I'm not so sure it can be fixed."

"What do you mean?"

"When you and Mitch were pointing around in my head, I remembered my father before we left, he injected me with it."

"Why?"

"He must have had a reason. Maybe he was punishing me. I don't know what kind of father does that to their own son."

"Jackson."

"So you asked me how I'm doing and the truth is, Kat, is that I am barely holding on. It's taking everything I have to just keep my head straight."

"Keeping you in one piece has always been Abe's job and my job. Maybe some things never change."

Jackson nods and takes a deep breath as Trotter comes over the P.A. "We got an emergency call from Allison Shaw. She wants to talk to Jackson. Says it's urgent."

"Trotter put her through."

"She wants to talk to you. Alone."

Jackson looks over to me and I step toward him, "You wants to talk to you, she's going to have to talk to me too."

Jackson smiles softly and nods before we head up to the conference area. When Allison comes on the screen, obviously she isn't happy that I'm there. "I said I needed to talk to Jackson alone."

Jackson shakes his head, "Anything you need to say to me you can say in front of Katherine."

I nod and smile, "Plus he's gonna tell me what you tell him anyway, this just saves everyone time."

Allison sighs, "Fine. Jackson, there's something that we need to discuss. It concerns your mother."

"What about her?"

"She was traveling with a group… fleeing Botswana."

"We're aware."

"They were due at a checkpoint in Mozambique three days ago. They never made it."

"What are you saying?"

"No one's heard from her or from anyone in her caravan. Jackson, your mother's missing."

"Okay, we are still on the ground here in Florida. It'll be hours be Allison, you need to send an IADG team to find them, now."

"Jackson, I'm so sorry, but there's no one left to send. I wish that there was something…"

"No, no, no, no. I don't care. You find someone. You find anyone. After everything that we have done for you, don't tell me don't tell me that you can't send a team out there…" As Jackson steps towards the screen the power goes off, then back on, then off again.

I look over to Jackson, "What the hell?"

As I step forward we hear what sounds like men on radios, Jackson looks up to me, gives me a very quick kiss and whispers, "Hide."

I nod and quickly and quietly head down the hall, finding a place to hide in one of the hall closest. I see a man walk past the closet before hearing someone comment, "Check the top deck."

As I hear this comment I feel the plane start to take off. I try to stay as still as I can but I hear gunshots and fighting outside the door. I know all we have on the plane is tranqs so I hope everyone is okay.

Soon I hear Jackson shout, "Abe, go!" Then what sounds like wood breaking and clanging to the floor. When everything calms down I wait about ten minutes before stepping out of the closet and I see Jamie at the end of the hall. She turns and sees me before the two of us get to where we can hear what's being said down in the lab, where I'm sure they're holding the boys.

I can hear General Davies, "Find Campbell and Smith." We slowly crawl our way around the catwalk as Davies looks over a tablet. We can see Davies and the boys through the holds in the walkway. "Triple-Helix animals, environmental anomalies, genomic fossils. You can't be serious"

Mitch scoffs, "You want me to explain it using smaller words?"

Abe takes a deep breath, "That research will lead us to a cure."

Davies shakes his head, "When are you going to accept the fact that there is no cure? You found your cure once and it failed. You failed. The Noah Objective is the only way to stop the animals now."

"Sir, you should see this," one of the soldiers holds up a laptop to Davies.

"Kovacs. Poor bastard. Went from a healer to a monster in a matter of weeks. This man right here is proof that we need to stop the spread of this mutation by any means necessary." Davies shifts his focus to Jackson, "Before it happens again. That's right, I know you've got the mutation. What I don't know is how or why. But I got a whole team of scientists just waiting to pick you apart to figure it out."

Jackson nods, "Okay, Davies. I'll go with you. Your men can do whatever you want to me. Under one condition. My mother and her caravan are missing outside of Botswana. No one knows what's happened. You send a team for help, and I will tell Trotter to land this plane right now. I will walk out of here with you without a fight, do you hear me?"

" I sympathize, Jackson, I do, but I'm afraid your mother is a lost cause. Botswana has all but fallen. So I suggest that you focus on the people that you can help. Namely your team. Because my men are gonna cut through that cockpit door, and they are gonna land this aircraft. And what happens then, what happens to your team, is entirely up to you."

Jamie and I get to the other side of the upper level and to the intercom. Jamie tries to get a hold of Trotter. "Trotter. Trotter." She whispers.

"The signal's blocked." I turn upon hearing a man's voice.

"Logan, you know for the first time I think I'm happy to see you."

Jamie steps towards Logan, "Where have you been? I've been looking for you everywhere."

"Davies has some kind of scrambling device set up. You can't get anything out."

"Well, unless we disable it."

"Those are trained killers down there. And they already have everybody else. There's no fighting this thing. We need to go."

"What are you talking about?"

I shake my head and take Jamie's arm, "Jamie, get back." I pull Jamie behind me.

Logan shakes his head, "The scrambler should be down by the cockpit. It'll be patched into the comms. Okay, just follow me. But don't say I didn't try."

"We're not going anywhere with you."

As I step back I hear Davies behind us, "Miss Campbell, Miss Smith, I was starting to worry we'd lost you two. Nice job, Logan."

I glare at Logan, "You son of a bitch" I draw back and punch Logan, before Davies men come in and grab Jamie and I. As the grab us we fight back, I manage to kick the man holding Jamie, causing him to let her go for a minute, "Run Jamie!" I shout as I keep fighting the man who holds me. Eventually, I kick him in the crotch and he lets me go. Jamie and I run down the hall and right into the rest of Davies men in the lab, and they grab us again.

The man I had kicked walks into the lab, "Damn, blondie's got some fight in her."

They turn us to the boys before zip-tying our hands. As they walk us closer to them Mitch calls out, "Are you two okay?"

Jamie shakes her head, "You were right, never should've trusted him."

Davies walks in with Logan, "Money's in your account."

Mitch rolls his eyes, "Yeah, that seems about right."

"You opened the door. I just walked through."

Mitch rushes toward Logan and pushes him back toward the sloth's crate, I'm not sure what fighting his gonna do with his hands tied up, but hey, anyone wants to fight Logan they can be my guest.

The men separate Mitch and Logan, "That's enough! Get them upstairs. This op's already taken longer than it should have." Davies orders.

When the men take us upstairs they sit us down and either tie or seat belt us in place. "Ow." I look up to one of the men, "Could you give me a little help here?"

"It's supposed to be uncomfortable."

"Well, look at these bruises. They're all over." I gesture to a bruise on my collarbone I had gotten from a rather over passionate night with Jackson, but I'm sure the men thought it was from my fight with them.

"Oh, we'll have to confirm that."

Jackson leans forward, being seated next to me, "Don't you dare touch her."

"What are you gonna do about it, Beastie Boy?"

Just then there is a low rumbling and shrieking. The men grunt and cover their ears as they yell. I look over and see that Mitch has a laser pointer and is pointing it at the sloth, causing the sloth to create an earthquake. The plane jerks from one side to another and everyone who isn't strapped in moves very freely around the cabin. When one of Davies' men moves toward me I kick him in the chest, sending him over the railing. I can hear the sound of everything in the lab falling over as the team begins to unbuckle ourselves.

"Logan's getting away," Jamie shouts as she stands.

Jackson stands and rushes one of the men and takes him down on the catwalk. Taking his knife and cutting our bonds. Abe goes after Davies, and once Jamie is free she grabs a tranq gun and heads over Logan. When Jackson cuts my restains I rush down into the lab, jumping over the railing on the landing and trying to find the sloth who is out of the cage. When I get to him, I'm not thinking and I pick him up, so after I do the sloth stops his shrieking and the plane levels out.

Mitch and Jackson rush downstairs. Mitch looks over to the cage and sees the sloth isn't there. "How did you get the sloth to…" He stops when he turns to me, freezing at the sight of me holding the sloth. "Well… that's…. odd…"


	15. Mozambique

Mitch looks at me stunned for a moment. "Okay, we will need to deal with that, later. Right we need to deal with them."

I nod as I rock the sloth, once I put him back in his cage and close the door he seems happy. Mitch pulls the man I had kicked over the railing and the power comes back on.

Trotter comes on over the intercom, "Got the power back up. Comms, too."

Jackson walks back up the stairs and over the catwalk, holding a phone to his ear. I'd go with him, but I really wanna see what's going on with me right now.

Mitch walks back into the lab and sighs, "Alright, we need to test your DNA and see what's going on because that sloth should not be acting like that."

I shake my head as Jackson slams the phone down, and Mitch and I look up at him. Jackson looks down at us, "Mitch, find out what's wrong with Katherine. Don't worry about me."

I shake my head and rush up the stairs, "Not until you tell me what that phone call was about."

Jackson sighs, "I told Allison we have Davies and if they wanted him back they needed to find a team to look for my mother."

Mitch shouts as he runs up the stairs behind me, "So, it never occurred to you that blackmailing our only ally in Washington might not be in the best interest of the team?"

"I made a decision. Deal with it."

I shake my head, "What are you gonna do if they say no? You gonna throw Davies off the plane?"

"Are you actually crazy enough now to do that? You gonna kill him?" Mitch adds.

"How is this any different from the time that you offered to turn the Mother Cell over to Reiden to save Clementine?"

Mitch scoffs, "Well, I can think of one big difference."

"Oh, yeah? What's that?"

"I didn't go through with it! Thinking about betraying the team and doing it, not the same thing."

"Hey! Turning on each other is not the way to go here. Jackson made a decision there's nothing we can do about it now."

Jamie shouts from down in the lab, " What going on up there?"

I turn to her, "Where's Davies?"

"He's with Abe. What's the plan?" We look around to each other, "Great, while you guys figure that out, I'm gonna go help Abe." Jamie and Jackson turn to leave as Mitch and I look over the railing.

When we do we notice that the cooler has been knocked over and it's open, "Jackson." Mitch calls out.

"I'm done talking."

"Me, too. We got a bigger problem."

Jackson looks down over the railing as we rush down and soon follows up. When we get to the lab I look around, "The lizard could be anywhere."

Mitch nods, "Which is not good because planes and ice don't really mix well."

I look around and see an orange tail under a cabinet. "Oh hey," I motion Mitch and Jackson over and we lift the cabinet. "Is he alive?"

Mitch looks him over, "Barely."

I shake my head and brush some things off of one of the tables, "If this thing dies, the cure dies with it."

Mitch takes off his overshirt and wraps the lizard in it before he picks it up, and puts it on the table. "Gonna have to open him up. See if there's any internal bleeding." Mitch starts to hook him up to a machine.

"Sure it's safe?"

"Well, its body temperature is still within normal range."

"Yeah, for now, but happens when he wakes up and gets all Mr. Freeze on us?"

"Unless you want to turn this plane around and go back "

Jackson shakes his head, "No, no, no, no, we have to get to my mother."

"This lizard is our only shot. And with the new protocol, His DNA is only good to us when he's still alive."

A phone goes off and Jackson pulls his out of his pocket, "It's Shaw, I have to take this."

"What. hey Kat and I can't do this surgery alone!"

"Which is why I'll be quick."

Mitch and I set up what we can before we hear shouting from the other room. "We are gonna lose this lizard unless we…"

Mitch and I stop at the sight before us, "What the?"

Davies in on the floor and Jamie is trying to use the ants as a defibrillator. Jackson walks over and hands the phone to Mitch, "Someone wants to talk to you."

Mitch puts the phone to his ear as I rush over to Davies, "Okay, let me see if I can wake him up." Mitch comments.

I look over Jamie's shoulder, "What's plan B, 'cause it's not working!"

Mitch sighs, "It's hard to explain. And harder to imagine."

A few moments later Davies gasps and his eyes open. Abe puts a hand on his forehead, "He's back! He's back."

Davies sits up and looks over to Abe, "You used the antivenom. You coward."

"The information you hold is far more valuable than your life. Lucky for you."

Jackson rushes back over to Mitch and takes the phone, "Okay, Allison, you heard Davies. He's alive. Now find her."

Mitch sighs, "I don't know what happened here, and I don't want to, but we've got a lizard to save. So, you, you, come with me." He points to Jackson and Jamie. "You and you, stay here with him. Try not to kill him this time."

Abe sighs, "I'll try." Abe grabs Davies and sits him up against the wall.

I stand and lean against the spiral staircase. "What is going on here, Abe?"

"Robert Oz is alive and he is working over Davies."

Davies chuckles, "I'll wager that's the first time since this started that an animal actually saved someone's life."

Abe walks away from him and leans against the wall to my left, "Keep your mouth shut."

"Seriously, how many people do the animals have to kill before you wake up?"

"The animals are sick. When people are ill, you take them to the doctor."

"And when a dog has rabies, you put it down. You don't travel around the world looking for a magic wand. You may not like this, but the Noah Objective is the only way to protect the people and save the animals. Robert Oz said so himself."

"I'll believe that when I hear it come out of his own mouth. Tell us where he is."

"No. And if you ask me that question one more time when your friend Jackson comes back, I'm gonna tell him your little secret."

I look over to Abe, "What secret?"

Davies scoffs, "That meeting Jackson in Uwei as a young man wasn't a coincidence. That you knew Robert Oz long before you met his son.

Abe steps forward, "Robert told you that?"

"Actually, you just did."

Jamie comes back into the room, "you okay?"

Abe looks over his shoulder to her, "We're fine."

"Did he say anything about Jackson's dad?"

I look over to Abe and then to Jamie, " He doesn't know anything." I sigh and leave the room heading to the lab to see Mitch so he can run some tests on me to find out what happened.

The plane has touched down in Mozambique and as I sit on one of the tables Abe comes through with Davies, "You are going to leave this plane without what you came for."

"Sounds like something you should worry about, not me."

"If you want Jackson, you're going to have to go through me. I killed you once. And I will gladly do it again."

"There's going to come a day very soon when you'll come looking for me."

"Today is not that day, General. So get the hell off our plane." I hear Jackson's voice from back in the hall.

Once Mitch is done taking blood from me I rush down the hall to the cargo bay and see Allison speaking with Jackson and Abe. "Hey, have you found Elizabeth?"

"The rescue team found her caravan. It was… Well, there was some sort of animal attack. An aid group is still looking for survivors."

Jackson nods, "Take me there."

I grip Jackson's forearm, "I'm going with you."

Jackson turns to me, "no you're staying here."

"Jackson, Elizabeth is my family too. I'm going…"

Abe chuckles, "If she's going I'm going. Someone has to keep you two out of trouble."

Jackson shakes his head, "What about your tests?"

"It's gonna take Mitch a while to go run them and get the results, it's fine. Worse case animals act normal. Which out here isn't all that different than how they're acting now."

Jackson sighs and we get ready to head out. Luckily all we need to get ready is in the cargo bay. Before long we are ready and we head to a makeshift village. When we get there, there are a few people from different organizations walking around, along with bodies everywhere.

Allison looks over to us as we look around at our family and friends, "Did you know these people?"

Abe nods, "Yes. They're from Elizabeth's village." I look around at a few of the bodies, as Abe continues, "Jackson, these bodies they look like the people Kovacs killed in Patagonia."

Jackson walks up to one of the volunteers, "Hujambo."

"Hujambo." the man nods.

"Are there any survivors?"

"In the med tent over there."

We walk around and see Dede, an older woman who was in the village with us. I look to one of the volunteers in the tent, "Is there no one else?"

She shakes her head, "I'm sorry."

Jackson steps in front of her and kneels down. "Jackson…"

"Dede, have you seen my mother? Have you seen Elizabeth?"

Dede moves her gaze to me as I step beside Jackson and kneel down with him, "What happened here?" She looks back to Jackson as if she's scared, "Dede, it's okay."

Dede takes a deep breath, "We were sleeping, I heard screams of terror. Everyone was dead. Elizabeth ran into the woods."

Jackson sighs, "What did this?"

"Your mother. She did. She killed all of them."


	16. Elizabeth

Upon hearing this news Jackson stands and leaves the tent and heads to the SUV, when he does I follow him, "Jackson?"

"My mother spent her whole life healing, and she killed all these people."

"I'm so sorry."

We can hear thunder rolling off in the distances and Abe is speaking to a man in Swahili. "a relief worker spoke to a few of the victims before they passed. Your mother had been self-medicating for weeks, trying to reduce her symptoms. Finally, it got so bad that a few of her neighbors decided to take her to a safe zone in Massingir They thought the doctors there might be able to help."

Jackson turns to Abe, "Well, they sure as hell didn't help, did they?"

"I know how hard this must be, but we are one animal away from the cure. We need to stay focused."

Jackson shakes his head, "She's out there, I have to find her."

I step toward him, "Jackson, it's too dangerous."

"She's my mother."

"And what if you do find her? What then?" Jackson doesn't reply he just stands there silent. I know that I am not going to change his mind. "Then we'll go with you."

"No, no." Jackson shakes his head.

Abe sighs and tells Jackson a saying in Swahili, "We take care of those we care about." He translates.

Jackson nods as he grabs the things we'll need out of the truck. Soon we begin our hike through the African bush and end up in grass that's taller than Abe.

"She can't have gone far," Abe comments before kneeling down, "I've lost her trail."

Before we continue I hear a distorted bellowing and growling, it sounds like the animal making the noise it right next to me, "Ahh!"

"Can you hear that too?" Jackson turns to me and I nod.

"Hear what?" Abe asks.

Jackson sighs, "Sometimes it comes and goes, but I hear things that are far away up close."

"The mutation?"

"If it's the mutation then why is Katherine hearing the same thing?"

"It's a distress call. A lion." I comment as the noise dyes down.

Jackson nods, "There must be a predator nearby."

"And since animals are no longer preying on each other, that must mean a new apex predator." I turn to Jackson.

"My mother." We continue walking, following the distress call until we come to a very small clearing next to the woods. When we do I sit on one of the rocks. Jackson comes over to me. "Are you okay?"

I nod and take a deep breath, "Yeah, I just need a…" I glance over and see a dead male lion, just a few steps into the woods. The sight makes me sick to my stomach and I turn, getting sick on the other side of the rock.

"He must have been calling for his pride." I hear Abe comment as I turn back.

The howling and growling sounds begin again, but this time they are close enough for Abe to hear them as well. The three of us look around and see the tall grass moving. At his point, Jackson is on the other side of the trail, about five feet away from me. "Jackson."

"Kat!"

Before Jackson and rush over to me, a pride of about five or six lions runs between us. Not even stopping for a second glance. I look up to Jackson, confused. But before any of us can move something else comes running out of the grass. It is a woman that looks much like Kovacs. She stops between Abe, myself, and Jackson. Abe moves in front of me.

"Mom. mom!" Jackson calls out to her. It wasn't until now that I realize the woman in front of us is Elizabeth.

Elizabeth turns to Jackson and then back to us, rushing Abe and taking him to the ground, as she does I jump up on the rock, I had been sitting on. Jackson shots her with a tranq but she keeps attacking Abe. He shoots her with about three tranqs, but it doesn't slow her down, she takes two of her fingers, that look like they have fused together and stabs Abe.

"Elizabeth, stop!" I shout as she continues the assault on Abe.

She doesn't stop until Jackson fires off a shot from his pistol. "It's me. It's your son. You're okay. I'm gonna take care of you." Elizabeth continues to growl and snarl, "It's okay, Mom. It's Jackson. You're fine. Stop. just stop."

She stops for a few moments before raising a hand, to finish Abe off. Everything looks like it is moving in slow motion as Jackson turns the gun on his mother and fires. Elizabeth stumbles backward, falling onto her back. When everything is over I slide off the rock and Jackson runs over to Elizabeth, collapsing next to her. I place a hand over my mouth, before walking over to Jackson and hugging him for behind, laying my head on his back. He places a hand on one of my arms.

Abe places a blanket over her and starts to sing a song in Swahili. "I'm sorry, Rafiki."

"Don't be. I did have I had to do."

I take a deep breath, still holding Jackson, "It was an act of mercy. There was nothing else you could have done."

"I could have stopped this. I could have found an answer."

Abe sighs, "We tried as mightily as any men could. We will, we will find that answer. Before I met you, I came into her clinic an angry young man with no purpose, no family. She gave me my medicine, and then kept making excuses to make me stay. She understood that I needed a different kind of medicine. I will always bless her for that. For giving me a second chance to have a mother and a brother."

I let go of Jackson and we both stand when we do Jackson turns to me and wraps his arms around me. Before long we head back to the plane, Jackson carries Elizabeth into the lab and lays her on a table.

Jamie rushes over to us, "Jackson, oh, my God. What happened?"

Abe sighs "She was shot. She... she mutated."

Jackson takes a deep breath, "My father must have given her the ghost gene like he did to me. But I need to know for sure. If he did, she's gonna have the same mark as me A three-point scar."

Mitch turns off one of the lights, "Okay. This light will cause old scars and injuries to fluoresce if, uh the mark is deep enough." Mitch takes the black light and looks over Elizabeth when he gets to her forearm a long scar comes up.

"That's where she was bitten by a rhino calf," Abe comments before Mitch moves on. As Mitch goes on there is a three-prong scar on her shoulder.

Jackson grunts loudly as he hits a table with bones on it, "My father did this. If he wasn't already dead, I swear I'd kill him myself."

Allison steps forward, "Jackson, I understand that you're in pain, I really do…"

"Maybe I don't care! About any of this! Do you understand?"

Abe follows Jackson as he storms out of the lab "Jackson. Maybe you should listen to Allison and try to hold on."

Allison sighs, "I don't know how much longer we're gonna be able to manage him."

Mitch sighs, "Messed up my bones… Wait a minute…. Sometimes, out of chaos comes clarity." Mitch starts to mess with the bones and shakes his head, "If I'm right about this, somebody's gonna owe me a very large, very cold double martini." He steps over to the computer. "Okay, I know what it is, but it's insane."

Jamie shakes her head, "Immortal jellyfish, ice lizard, earthquake sloth… They're all insane."

"Yeah, well, none of those... are extinct. The one animal that we need most has been extinct for 14,000 years." Mitch turns around the computer that has an oil painting of a Saber-toothed cat on it.

I shake my head, "How could Pierce have experimented… on an extinct animal?"

"I don't know… 'Cause I can't read the mind of a guy who's been dead for 100 years. Which, right about now, sounds pretty recent, doesn't it?"

Allison sighs, "Is there a chance that the saber-toothed tiger still exists?"

"It's not a tiger, - it's a cat." Mitch corrects her, "The saber-toothed cat went extinct during the Ice Age. That's the Pleistocene era."

"What if you're wrong?"

I look over to Allison, "If there's even a shadow of a doubt, we need to pursue it."

Jamie nods, "She's right."

"Oh great, you too?" Mitch looks over to the two of us.

Allison sighs. "If there's a chance Any chance at all… That this animal still exists you and I both know that there's only one place to find that answer."

Mitch shakes his head, "No."

"I'm sorry."

"No. Allison, no."

"Mitch, I am sorry, but this is our last shot, and I am taking it." She walks over to the intercom, "Trotter, this is Allison Shaw. We're wheels-up for Helsinki."

Jamie looks around, "Anyone gonna tell us why we're going to Helsinki?"

"Because that's where one of the greatest cryptozoologists of our time has chosen to sit out the animal armageddon. And if you don't know what a cryptozoologist is, that's a "scientist" who goes around in search of animals that may or may not exist."

I shake my head, "So we're going to Helsinki to meet a quack?"

"Oh, not just any quack. This particular quack is a raging alcoholic, pathological hypocrite, a straight-up cradle robber and he's also my dad."

I sigh and shake my head, before heading into the kitchen. It isn't until I get to the kitchen that I realize that I haven't eaten all day. As I dig around the cabinets and get a thing of tuna, dolphin-safe, of course, mixed with some mayo, and a glass of sangria.

As I sit the thing down on the counter and get ready to eat Mitch comes in, "I wouldn't eat that if I were you."

"Why? Everything's in date." As I got to take a bite of my tuna Mitch takes the spoon away from me.

"Okay, you're gonna wanna listen to me, alright? I finished the tests and it seems like you and Jackson have more in common than you two thing."

I look at him a little confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that you two have the mutation. You, however, got it from your father's side."

"And that means I can't eat tuna?" As I go to take a drink of the sangria, Mitch takes the glass out of my hand. "Hey."

"No, it doesn't… But you and Jackson may get that family quicker than you two thought you would."


	17. Meeting Max

"Okay, you're gonna wanna listen to me, alright? I finished the tests and it seems like you and Jackson have more in common than you two think."

I look at him a little confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that you two have the mutation. You, however, got it from your father's side."

"And that means I can't eat tuna?" As I go to take a drink of the sangria, Mitch takes the glass out of my hand. "Hey."

"No, it doesn't… But you and Jackson may get that family quicker than you two thought you would." Mitch takes a deep breath, "I should say congratulations but given my experience…."

"Shut up, Mitch… Now is not the time for you to try to be funny." I take a few deep breaths and head out to the lab and see Jackson looking over a picture of Elizabeth. "Hey, have you found anything?"

"No, not yet." Jackson doesn't break his force from the screen.

"Jackson, I need to talk to you." Jackson doesn't look up from the screen, "Jackson!"

"What Kat?! What is more important than me finding out what my father did to my mother?" I take a step back, he has never yelled at me like that before, Jackson takes a deep breath and steps toward me, "I'm sorry… What's up?" He stops in front of me and rubs my upper arms. I look down to the ground, looking for the words to say when I look up to Jackson I feel a tear roll down my cheek, "Oh, my God, Kat." Jackson grabs a paper towel and wipes the tear from my cheek when he pulls it away I can see that I am crying the same black tears Jackson had before. Jackson goes to step away, "I'll go get Mitch."

I reach out and grips Jackson's arm, "Mitch already knows." Jackson looks at me confused and I take a deep breath, "I have the mutation too."

"That doesn't explain why the animals act normal around you." I take a deep breath, but before I can tell Jackson what should be the good news he glances back to the screen and pulls away, "Wait a minute… She didn't have the scar before we moved to Africa." Jackson turns and runs to the cargo bay, when we get into the cargo bay Abe is putting away somethings in the cargo bay, Jackson runs up to Abe, "My mother didn't have a scar when we moved to Africa, Abe. just looked at this old picture. My father He-he gave me the injection before we left Boston, but... but he obviously he didn't give it to my mother."

"And you're wondering how it happened."

"Did my father visit Africa, Abe, while I was out on safari, or when I was at school?"

Abe shakes his head. "No, I don't think so."

"Well, then, here's the problem. Either my father gave her this injection, or somebody else did."

Just then Trotter comes over the P.A. "Abe, urgent call for you."

Abe sighs and heads over to one of the intercom panels, "Abraham Kenyatta here."

"God, it's good to hear your voice."

"Dariela. Where are you?"

"We made it to the safe zone, but something happened."

"What is it?"

"I was attacked by horses. They came after me, Abe."

"But you are okay?"

"Yes, but I was traveling with all those people from Holbeach And the horses…. They singled me out."

"What? I don't understand."

"There's something about me. Or there's something about them."

Jackson steps forward, "The people that she's with. Dariela, did the horses target any of the others at all?"

"No. It's like they didn't even see them like the animals are with Jackson."

I shake my head, "No, they'd all have to have the gene."

"Or the mutation is changing."

The three of us head back into the lab and we see that Mitch, Allison, and another man are in the lab, placing a bone into Moe's tank. Abe calls out to them, "Hey, guys? We just spoke to Dariela."

Allison crosses her arms, "Yes? And?"

The man in the lab turns from Moe's tank, "Give that ten minutes. We should get some answers. In the meantime, I'm going to reacquaint myself with my Scotch."

"You know how we thought that the ghost gene infected 2.2 million people?" Jackson looks over at Allison.

"That was Davie" projection they're all gonna be collateral damage if... when the Noah Objective releases the gas."

"Judging by what she just went through, our numbers were wrong."

"How wrong?"

"Based on what she saw, there may be billions of people with the ghost gene."

"Billions?" Allison asks.

I nod, "yeah."

Mitch takes a deep breath, "Then we'd better find a cure before that can happen." Mitch turns, taking the bone out of Moe's tank and takes a piece of it off, before running it through a machine. A few minutes later there is a beeping noise. "We got it."

The other man that I can only assume is Mitch's father Max, walks into the lab, drink in hand, "All right. Based on the aspartic acid levels, this saber-toothed cat was alive a hundred years ago."

"What is that?" Mitch points to the screen.

"That means that bones showed traces of a synthetic bio-active compound."

I nod, "So we weren't just wrong about the extinction date."

"This animal was... Somebody made him." Mitch turns around.

"Made him?"

"A hundred years ago."

"How is that even possible?"

"What aren't you telling us, Max?"

Max walks over to the saber-tooth bones, "Are you sure these were never tampered with? Beyond a shadow, - sure?"

Mitch nods, "hundred percent. Wait, what does this mean?"

"Three years ago, I was in Chile, searching for what the locals called a sea monster. I figured what they'd seen was a giant squid, but Their descriptions were oddly consistent with Pelycosauria. Um, that's aquatic dinosaurs. Besides the fact that pelycosaurs have been extinct for 66 million years, it seemed very unlikely that the Chilean locals would have ever heard of him, let alone been able to so accurately describe them."

"What does this have to do with the saber-tooth?"

"They talked about a secret research facility located off the coast on one of the Juan FernÃ¡ndez Islands."

"What kind of research facility?"

"They supposedly had developed a synthetic bio-active compound that allowed them to recreate extinct animals. I didn't believe it until now."

"We need a saber-toothed cat." I turn to Mitch.

"Well sounds like there's only one place on Earth you can find it. And they call it Pangaea." Max continues."

We all rush upstairs and start to research Pangaea, of course, Jamie is the first to find anything, " Looks like a fiber-optic company laid about $50 million worth of cable between the mainland and the Juan FernÃ¡ndez Islands."

Allison nods and reads off what she was able to find, "And, according to the Chilean Port Authority, there are supply ships making runs every other week."

"So, the rumors are true. The island exists." I lean back in the chair, "The question is, which island?"

Jackson looks across the table to me, "Well, we just fly into Concepcion and start looking."

Allison scoffs, "Five people against the kind of money and brainpower that would have to be behind this?"

I shrug, "Well, it's not the worst odds we've ever faced."

Mitch nods, "Tomorrow I'll check Jackson's blood. Make sure he won't reject the cure. Last step of the journey, kids."

Abe walks up to Jackson, "We need to speak in private... Now, Rafiki."

As the two walk away Allison walks over to the intercom, "Trotter, can you please file a flight plan - to Concepcion, Chile?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Max walks over to Allison and smiles, "So this is goodbye?"

Allison nods, "Yes, Max, this is goodbye."

"You know, it doesn't have to be."

"Really?"

"Really. Just let your team do the dragon chasing. Ali. Stay in Helsinki with me."

Mitch groans, "You are unbelievable."

"She's a grown woman, sport."

"I'm starting to have a little deja vu, here."

"Here we go."

"12 years ago, the Pierre Hotel, I think it was, right? You were being honored for something."

"For contributions that I made to the zoo. Yeah, I funded a very elegant rhino enclosure."

Mitch nods, "And you delivered a pretty great speech. Yeah, not the one you gave for dinner, the one you gave at dessert to my girlfriend."

"Can we please not do this right now?" Allison tries to defuse the situation.

"You should have said something if it bothered you."

"Yeah? Like what? Hey, Dad, really appreciate it if you didn't try to skeez her out from under me."

"Well, in-in hindsight, it was rather poor form."

"Yeah, you think?"

"Hey. I married her. You weren't even ready to give her a damn friendship bracelet."

Jamie and I glance to each other before to Allison. "Oh, my God."

"I was young and stupid."

Max shakes his head, "You feel better now that you got that off your chest?"

"Hey, Max. Get the hell off our plane." With that comment from Mitch, Max nods and walks out of the room.

Jamie and I take that as our cue to leave and head into one of the bedrooms. Once we are there Jamie and I sit on the bed and she looks over to me, "So what's going on with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I know Mitch was running some tests on you and when I asked him about it, he told me to ask you."

"Ah…" I nod, "Well… uhh… It turns out that I have the same mutation that Jackson has…"

"Then why aren't you going crazy like he is?"

"Mitch thinks it's because… I'm pregnant…"

Jamie looks up at me surprised, "Really?! Does Jackson know?"

"Not yet, I'm trying to find the right time to tell him."

"Oh, my God, Congratulations." Jamie pulls me in for a hug.

"Thanks, but right now, I'm not that's a good thing."

Jamie shakes her head, "a baby is always a good thing." she and I share a laugh.

"You know, meeting Max, I think I understand why Mitch is that way he is."

"just having you as a father would be a bit much."

I nod, "But you can tell he loves his son. Even though he married his girlfriend."

The two of us laugh again. But our laugh is broken by the sound of fighting and shouting coming from the lab. We can hear Abe yelling and then a gunshot. When we run down the stairs Dariela is there.

"The vehicle bay. He ran to the vehicle bay." I over to her and she just shakes her head, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

We run to the bay and see one of the cars is missing. I take a deep breath and shaky breath and it becomes harder for me to breath "he's gone… He's…" I fall to the floor and everything goes black.

The last thing I remember is Mitch's distract voice. "Kat! Kat! Abe, we gotta find Jackson."


	18. Helsinki

When I wake up I am on the medical cot in the lab. As I look around I see Allison, Dariela, and Jamie, but not Abe or Mitch. They must have gone after Jackson after I passed out. As I try to sit up Dariela stops me.

"Hey, hey, relax. You're fine. You took a slip but you should be okay."

I shake my head, "Jackson… Where's Jackson…." my voice is hoarse and weak.

"Abe and Mitch are out looking for him, Mitch put a tracker in him."

I shake my head, "No, he did it himself. He was worried this would happen after the last episode." My vision goes blurry again and my head feels like it's splitting in half.

I look over and see Jamie in front of computer, "Mitch, he just turned south."

I can hear Abe over the phone, "This is all my fault."

I try to get up, as I do Dariela supports me as I walk over to the desk, "No, it's not Abe. Jackson asked Dariela to keep us safe from him and she did."

Dariela looks at me surprised. "Jackson told you about that?"

"He didn't have to, I know Jackson well enough to know he will make sure his family is protected at any count, and I overheard the two of you."

"Mitch," Jamie calls out, "It's Jackson, he stopped."

Then my vision goes black again and I feel myself fall against Dariela. When I awake again I hear Mitch "We found the car, but no Jackson. No sign. He's gone."

Jamie sighs, "I checked all the hospitals in Helsinki, no gunshot victims."

"Well, I don't think medical attention his priority right now."

As I sit up I see the group talking nearby, "I shot him in the shoulder, it tends to sting a little."

I sigh, getting their attention, "Well, you speared Kovacs through the chest He kept coming."

Mitch walks over to me and checks to make sure I am alright, or at least not going down the same path Jackson it, "Look, the mutation causes an adrenaline rush. It blocks the transmission of pain. He's not feeling anything right now."

I shake my head, "Jackson is not Kovacs."

"No. Not yet. But the brain has three levels. One controls logic, one controls emotion. The other is reptilian. Right now his reptilian instincts are completely overriding the logic. Fight or flight."

"We need to find him now."

Allison shakes her head, "The Noah Objective is days away, and we still need a saber-tooth cat."

Dariela look to all of us, confused, "Aren't those extinct?"

Mitch shakes his head, "Not on an island called Pangea. But we can't do anything without Jackson."

"Because he's the incubator?"

"Yes. I've been working on an anti-rejection drug, just in case his body can't handle the cure. I mean, I'm going to be introducing seven genomic fossils into his DNA. If his body rejects it, no more cure."

Abe takes a deep breath and looks over to me, "I think I know where he is."

I nod and look down, "He'd want to find his father. Get answers as to why he gave Jackson the ghost gene in the first place."

Abe nods, "We need Davies. He knows where Robert Oz is."

Allison shakes her head, "General Davies is in Washington. He's preparing for the TX Gas Launch. I just got an update, but with commercial flights suspended, Jackson won't get his hands on him unless he swims the Atlantic."

I shake my head, "Well, the only way out of the country is by airplane, and the only planes leaving are military. He could be going to a nearby base."

Jamie nods, "We need footage from there." She looks over to Allison, "Can you get that?"

"Sure, I'll send an order."

Mitch takes a deep breath, "Great. Then we'll get to that base."

"Not so fast. I need you here."

"What is more important than Jackson?"

"Mass genocide. Dariela said that the horses ignored everyone that she was traveling with, but came after her. That means they could all have the ghost gene. A lot more people could die than we thought."

Dariela shakes her head, "Look, maybe I was wrong. There could be another reason."

I look over to Dariela, "What reason could that be?"

"Don't know," She looks over to Mitch, "I'm not the scientist."

Mitch shakes his head, "Allison, what do you want me to do?"

"Look, Russia is thinking of pulling out of The Noah Objective, but Davies needs their airspace to launch the gas."

"I don't speak Russian."

"No, you speak science. I need you to come to the embassy and convince the minister of defense that we're close to a cure."

"Without Jackson, there is no cure, so I'm going to go get him, okay?"

"No, you're not."

"Watch me." with that Abe and Mitch get ready to head out. Allison look to the other three of us for support but we don't comment or even look at her, so she storms off. So after she leaves, Jamie does as well.

I glance over to Dariela, "So, can I tell you something?"

"I didn't think you were speaking to me, I did just shoot your fiance in the shoulder."

"I know you could have taken a kill-shot, thank you for not killing him and saving Abe's life."

"Someone had to."

"I'm gonna to ask you something and you're not going to like it."

"Cut the preamble. Just tell me."

"Stay here. Don't go looking for Jackson with the boys."

"You think I'm a liability - 'cause the animals were targeting me?"

I shake my head, "No. the animals are targeting all of you. But it's not the animals that worry me, it's Jackson."

"And you're worried Jackson will come back here for you."

I sigh and look down, "If I can't calm him down and bring him back, I need someone here to be able to do what I can't."

"Fine, I'll stay. But what makes you think Jackson won't target you like he does the rest of us?"

"Oh, my God!" As I look up I see Allison in the doorway, "You have it too. You have the mutation." I take breath to answer her but she doesn't wait. "Mitch! Get up here!"

"What do you want Allison." Mitch walks in and shakes his head.

"We don't need Jackson, Katherine has the ghost gene, she can sensitize a cure."

"No, she can't."

"Why not?"

"She just can't alright, it won't work."

"Give me a reason, Mitch. Why won't it work?" Allison keeps pushing Mitch.

"Because she's pregnant! Okay?" Mitch yells. He take a deep breath and speaks in a calmer voice, "And I will be damned if I am going to put a child at risk when we have another option."

As Mitch finish his little rant I hear Abe behind me, "Uzuri?" I turn to look at Abe, his expression one of shock and disbelief. When I nod my head, confirming what Mitch had said Abe smiles and walks over, giving my a bear hug. "This is amazing news!"

"Not so amazing, Jackson is out there doing only God knows what and it may get him killed."

"Don't worry I will make sure he comes back alive and in one piece."

I chuckle, "I know you will, Abe."

As Abe lets me go I over hear the newscaster on the tv. "Breaking news out of Finland. An unidentified man has gone on a violent rampage at Helsinki Central Hospital. It's unclear what motivated the attack, but numerous injuries have been reported and the man is still at large. Authorities are considering him unarmed, yet extremely dangerous. We'll bring you more details as we get them."

I turn to the tv, "It can't be…"

"This is bad."

"I can't believe he did that."

"He must've had a reason."

Mitch looks over to Abe and I, "Reason? You know what his reason would've been? What? That he is no longer capable of reasoning." Mitch turns and heads down to the cargo bay and Abe and I follow.

Abe shakes his head, "He ran because of what I told him, not because of the mutation."

"Abe, you've got to get something through that big skull of yours. What we're gonna be looking for isn't your friend Jackson anymore. We're hunting an animal."

Abe looks over to me and shakes his head before he and Mitch head out. When I get back to the sitting area I see that there is a news report with General Davies on it.

"Welcome back to The Conversation. If you're just joining us, our guest tonight, General Andrew Davies. Executive Director of the Noah Objective. General, before the break, you were explaining to our audience how the TX-14 gas would be distributed."

"Yes, it's very simple really, Peter. Our, uh, top scientists have pinpointed very specific dispersal sites all across the planet. And why these locations? Well, they allow for the gas to be launched into the upper atmosphere, where it can be spread for thousands of miles using both the polar and the subtropical jet streams. And this, in turn, allows for the gas to saturate the air at equal volume."

"I see, Now, in the United States, Boston and Los Angeles have been chosen, but residents there are clearly not very happy, as evident by many protests."

"I want to assure everyone that the TX-14 gas is 100% safe for humans."

"And you're saying there are no side effects?"

"None whatsoever. This is the perfect solution to our animal problem, which you'll all be able to see in three days."

"Well, now, there are rumors circulating, General, that Russia, which, of course, occupies the world's largest land mass, may pull out of the Noah Objective."

"Those are just rumors, Peter. I wouldn't pay them any mind."

"Yes, but if this were to happen, General, would you still be able to move proceed? Peter, Russia has always been a big supporter of the Noah Objective."

"And we are very grateful to them for that."

I sigh and shake my head, as I lean back on the couch, with Jamie, Dariela comes in. Glancing over to Allison, who is at the bar and then to me and Jamie, "Hey, ladies. We've got a problem. The Russian minister of defense is in our kitchen."

Allison looks over to her, "Leonid Ivankov?"

"Thought his name was… get me Mitch Morgan." Dariela speaks in a Russian accent.

I stand up, "What's he doing here?"

"He wants proof that we're working on an alternate to the Noah Objective."

"But without Mitch Can't we just have him wait until Mitch gets back? No, we need Russia on our side, but that doesn't mean that I trust them."

Allison shakes her head, "Ivankov can't know about Jackson."

"Why?" Jamie looks over to her.

"Learning that the mutation has jumped to humans could make him side with the Noah Objective. We have one chance."

"Oh, no pressure."


	19. Ivankov

When we get into the kitchen there are two men there, both men are in suits. As we enter the kitchen Allison is the first to greet them, "Hello."

One of the men speaks, and has a thick Russian accent, "Hello, Ms. Shaw."

"Minister Ivankov, what a surprise. Dr. Morgan and I were going to come to you."

"I had to see this for myself. Your team. What you do here. Tell me, where is Dr. Morgan?"

I take a deep breath, "There's an animal we need for the cure. He's out hunting it."

"And you are?"

"Katherine Smith."

"Ahh, yes. Not sure why you are with the team other than the fact that your lover is." I scoff softly and shake my head.

Jamie looks from me to Ivankov, "Because of Katherine this team has been able to do things we wouldn't have a dream of without her."

Ivankov nods, "You must be Jamie Campbell, you are the girl with the leopard. You had the cure. But it failed."

"Yes, but we're close to another." I lift my head and try to stand as tall as I can. "When Mitch gets back, he'll show you."

"There is no time. The gas will be released in three days. With no alternative, the Noah Objective appears to be the most effective way to end this."

Jamie shakes her head, "Davies is lying to you."

"So are you. You ladies are not being honest about Dr. Morgan's whereabouts. What don't you want me to know?" Ivankov steps towards me.

"We have nothing to hide." I look up to him since he is a little taller then I am.

"We'll see about that. I need to speak to Miss. Smith in private."

Dariela steps forward, "I don't think so, Sputnik."

I shake my head and place a hand on her shoulder, stepping up next to her. "I got this."

Allison looks over at me and nods, "Okay."

With that she, Dariela, and Jamie leave the room, leaving me with Ivankov and the other man. Dariela was not happy about having to leave, but if we're gonna get this done, it's what needs to happen. Ivankov and I sit at the table in the kitchen

I look over to the man still in the room, "What's his job?"

"His job is to watch. Now place your arms on the table."

"Seriously?"

"Your pulse doesn't lie, even if you do." I take a deep breath and place my elbows on the table, as Ivankov takes a light hold on my wrist, "You said you were close to a cure. How do you know that?"

"We found a way to take specific animals that have... Bear with me… A Triple-Helix DNA strand and use their genomic fossils to synthesize a cure."

Ivankov and the man speak to each other in Russian before Ivankov addresses me, "And how many of these Triple-Helix animals do you need to make a cure?"

"Seven, we have six. But the last one is proving hard to get. But we are close to finding a cure. If you let the Noah Objective go forward, the gas will kill millions of people. And Davies knows it. That's what he's hiding."

"And how do you know this?"

"We've accessed his files."

"This team of yours… Why won't you let me know where they really are?"

"They're hunting for an animal we need."

"And what animal is that?"

I take a deep breath, I know I have to tell him the truth, but I don't have to tell him it's Jackson. "A Man."

Ivankov looks at me with a smirk, as if he's caught me in a lie. But soon looks at me shocked and takes his hands away from mine. He turns to the other man, speaking to him in Russian before the two of them leave the room. God, I hope that was the right thing to do. If they drop the gas not only will Jackson die, but me and our baby as well.

Before long Ivankov comes back and stops a few feet away from me, "It is a scary thing to realize the mutation has jumped to humans. All the more reason to find this cure."

"Does this mean you're withdrawing support for the Noah Objective?" I stand and look to Ivankov.

"Yes. We corroborated your story."

"That's great news."

"Hold the celebration. I must convince the cabinet of ministers. They're meeting in Washington in two days. They need to be told that TX-14 gas will cause human casualties."

"Well, can you convince them?"

"We will stop the Noah Objective, with your help."

"Wait, you said that you corroborated my story. Who did you corroborate it with?"

"Everything you said lined up with a Noah Objective scientist we spoke with two days ago. Triple-Helix, genomic fossils."

"Scientist?"

"Yes."

"What scientist?"

"His name is Dr. Robert Oz."

I take a deep breath as I look to Ivankov, shocked. "I need to talk to him. Do you know where he is?"

"No. We spoke on a secure line."

"Was it traceable?"

"By definition, secure lines are not traceable." I shake my head and look down before Ivankov continues "But in Russia, We trace everything."

I smile and nod, "Thank you, Mr. Ivankov. Do you think you could get the information from that call?"

"Of course. I imagine you need to give this information to your team."

I nod and turn to leave the room, once I am out of the kitchen, I call Abe and Mitch.

"Kat, what's going?"

"The Russian Minister of Defense was just in our kitchen and he told me that he had spoken with Robert Oz."

"You sure?"

"That's what Ivankov said. We're gonna try to trace the call, get a location. How's it going on your end?"

"Hard to say. Jackson seems to be very interested in a Finnish woman named Vera Salvon."

"Why?"

"We have no idea."

"Well, keep me posted. And you guys be careful."

"Yeah."

As I hang up I step into the cargo bay and am greeted by Allison, "Was that Mitch?"

"Yeah and Abe."

Allison nods and steps towards me, "we're almost ready."

"What is this thing again?" I look over to the tent that the Russian government had set up in our cargo bay.

"A SCIF room. A Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility."

Ivankov steps out of the tent and we walk down the ramp to him, "You bring this stuff with you when you travel?"

"Yes. For security. Calls can't be traced, computers can't be hacked."

Allison nods, "From a surveillance standpoint, it's impenetrable."

"Unless, of course, you are inside."

The three of us step inside and get to work on tracing Robert's call. We call the number he used to contact Ivankov but the phone just rings and rings. Finally, someone answers the phone.

"Hello?"

"Dr. Robert Oz? If this is Dr. Robert Oz, please don't hang up. I'm your son's fiance. Jackson is in trouble, and I think that he might be trying to find you. Please. He really needs your help." The is no answer on the other end, "hello?" The line goes dead, as it does I look to Ivankov, "Did you get that?"

"Yes. An address just outside of Washington, D.C."

I rush out of the tent and call Abe and Mitch again. But they don't answer. As I walk into the lab there is an older woman standing in the lab with Jamie. "Hello?" I call out softly.

"What's going on?" I look over and see Mitch and Abe walk in as well.

Jamie turns to us, "You guys, there's someone here you should meet. This is Vera Salvon."

Vera smiles, "I'm glad you're all here. I have a message from Jackson Oz."


	20. Robert

Vera tells us everything that Jackson had been able to tell her, everything about the mutation he and I have, how we are going to make the cure, and everything else he could remember in the state he is in.

"Anybody else would've thought your friend was crazy, but I knew something wasn't right.

After the parakeet bit me, strange things began to happen."

"Do you mind if I take a look at your arm, Ms. Salvon?" Mitch asks holding out a hand. Vera rolls up her sleeve and shows Mitch her arm, it is covered in scars that look similar to Jackson's. "So you've been experiencing black tears? Mucus?"

"Yes. Jackson explained to me that is was happening to him and Katherine too." Vera looks over to me. "He said that we all had this thing. A ghost gene. It's what gave us the animal mutation. But he said there was a way to cure not just me... But the whole world."

I take a deep breath, "He wants you to replace him, be an incubator."

Mitch nods, It's possible in theory, but I've got to run a few tests."

I sigh softly, "This means he's not planning on coming back."

Vera shakes her head, "I'm sorry. No."

"Thanks to you, we finally know what Jackson has been up to."

Abe nods, "And thanks to you, we know where to find him."

Mitch takes some of Vera's blood, "This will tell us if you can use me to do whatever you call it?"

"Incubate the cure. Yes. But first I need to make sure your body can handle it without rejecting the genomic fossils I need to introduce into your DNA, okay? Shouldn't take long." Mitch takes the blood and moves away from Vera and I. As the others move away as well.

"He's a charmer."

I chuckle softly, "I guess so."

"But, I get the feeling you only have eyes for Jackson."

"Mrs. Salvon? Why did you keep your parakeet after the animals changed?"

"He belonged to my late husband. The bird hated everyone. When Gunter passed, I couldn't bring myself to put it in quarantine."

"I guess we should all be glad that you kept him. And thank you for doing this. Not everyone would be so calm."

"I watched my husband die, and I've been through two bouts with cancer. I'm not about to let a nip from a little bird get the best of me."

"Well, you're braver than most people."

"Tell me, Katherine. If you have the mutation why can't your team use you to make the cure?"

I smile and look down at my still flat stomach placing a hand on it. "Uhh... Jackson and I are expecting a baby. But I haven't had a chance to tell him."

"If he didn't know you were pregnant why didn't he assume you could make the cure."

"I don't think it very crossed his mind."

"He won't let you go through something like that?"

"No, I don't think he would."

Mitch walks back over to the two of us, "All right, test looks good. Soon as we find that saber-tooth, Vera here should make a perfect host."

Vera smiles, "Oh, there you are. Everything is going to work out. When this is all over you and Jackson can focus on this little one."

"You told her?"

I shrug, "What's the big deal, everyone exact for the baby's father knows." I head upstairs and look out the window, noticing the sun is rising. I look over to the table and notice Dariela. "Those horses in England weren't ignoring everyone else..."

"What are you talking about?"

"They were targeting you... Because you're pregnant."

"What are we gonna throw a joint baby shower?"

"That's why you agreed to stay back."

"I won't be a liability. You gonna tell everybody?"

"That is what I was going to ask you. What about Abe?"

"I need to figure some things out first. Plus, it's not like you'd have any room to talk on not tell your baby daddy."

I sigh and shake my head, "I was trying to tell Jackson before he lost his mind. Who knows, maybe it would have helped him keep it a little longer. But pregnancy is rough, even in the best conditions. And you're gonna spend the next nine months with a target on your back?"

"And you won't?"

"No, since I have the mutation the animals act as they normally would around me."

"Well, everything happens for a reason, right?"

"It's kind of hard to think that way sometimes. I mean you wouldn't have met Abe if this hadn't happened. The group wouldn't have met. But then again, I wouldn't be worried the man I love was going to get himself killed."

"Weren't Abe and Jackson safari guides back in Africa?"

"I never really worried about them before all this. They could handle themselves. I just didn't like the time away from him."

As Dariela and I share wary and worried smiles, Allison walks in. "I've got great news. Ivankov is meeting with his cabinet of ministers tomorrow to vote. He's already convinced two, and he's working on the rest."

I look over to Allison, "Do you think he has time to convince them?"

"He's optimistic. Good job."

"I just told the truth."

Allison nods, "Have you seen Jamie?"

I shake my head, "not recently."

"Thank you."

I nod as Allison walks off and look over to Dariela, "I'm gonna go lie down."

As I walk down the hall I run into Abe. "Kat, Jackson gave Vera this letter to give to me." Abe holds out a folded piece of paper. "Read it."

I take the paper and read over it:

 _Abe,_

 _We've both done things we cannot change things we regret. By now, you must realize what I'm gonna do, and that I'm not coming back. So there's something that I need to say to you and Katherine. For a long time, you've called me Rafiki, a name that means friend. But given everything we've been through, we're not friends. We're much more. We're family and always have been. So no matter what happens, know this, I forgive you. Tell Katherine I love her more than anything in the world and that I need to do this. Just promise that you'll look after her._

 _Jackson._

I look up to Abe, "He's going after his father."

Abe nods, in agreement. After reading Jackson's letter we can't get to D.C. fast enough, even though we landed about 10 minutes later. When we land we head to the safe house that we traced the call from and Abe breaks down the door after waiting for an answer for 15 minutes.

"Jackson? Dr. Oz?" As we walk into the house the phone is ringing.

I walk into what looks like the dining room in the house, that has turned into a study, and see a man sitting in the chair facing the wall. "Robert Oz?"

The phone keeps ringing, we look around and all the boards in front of the man look like Robert's work. Abe comes in behind me and approaches the man, "Robert Oz?"

When he turns the man around, it is a soldier, who looks like someone put a round in his chest. I shake my head and take a deep breath, "You don't think..."

Abe looks down at the man and then up to me, "No, Jackson could never have done this."

As we look around the room more, we hear tires screeching outside and a car door opening. Mitch and Jamie come into the room, "Company," and we make our way out the back door, fleeing over the fence, and make our way back to the plane.

When we get there Dariela is on one of the computers, Abe walks over to her. "Any sign of Jackson?"

"No. There are reports of shots fired at IADG HQ."

I sigh, "Great."

Mitch shakes his head and sighs, "Any casualties?"

"Unclear. Story's not being picked up by the news outlets. I'm piecing things together from social media."

"We're gonna need surveillance at the IADG and surrounding traffic cams."

"Working on it." I walk around to see the screen and Dariela gets the security cameras pulled up. "Here we go."

Jamie picks up one of the tablets and looks through the sources Dariela was using, "Says here shots were fired at 4:23 p.m."

Dariela fast-forwards the video to 4:23 and pauses the video. Jackson is standing at the door to the IADG with another man. I lean forward, "Is that?"

"Robert Oz," Abe confirms.

"Go to traffic cams." I glance over to Dariela, watching Jackson and Robert get into a red car. "So that's 12th Street."

Jamie nods, "There should be another camera at G."

"They're heading North. Where is Robert taking him?"

"We should be able to pick him up at New York Avenue." We watch the screen at New York Avenue, but there is no sight of the car.

"Maybe they turned?"

"Try Massachusetts... 13th and M?" Dariela flips through traffic cams, but there is no sign of the car.

I sigh and shake my head, "They're gone."

"So, the Great and Powerful Oz." Mitch comments, "Crazy son of a bitch is still alive. And now he has the one thing that he has coveted the most. Jackson."

I turn and walk away from the group before kicking one of the heavy metal tables, moving it back a few feet. "God, Damn it!"

Mitch walks up to me, "Hey, hey, the last thing we need right now is for you to rage out like Jackson. I know you're very passionate people, but could you dial it back and given the pattern of causes here, may I suggest not seeing your Father in Law when this is all over."

I shake my head and rub my forehead. "How did we lose him? He can't just disappear." I walk over to the computer and Dariela moves out of the way as I start to look through all of the footage.

Jamie walks over to me and places a hand on my shoulder, "Katherine, you've been up all night. You need some rest."

"No, we're running out of time. The Noah Objective launches in less than 48 hours."

"Maybe not." I look up from the computer hearing Allison's voice. "I just got off the phone with Leonid Ivankov. He believes he's convinced enough ministers to vote against Davies to pull out of the Noah Objective."

"Will that shut Davies down?"

"In a heartbeat. His plan is to drop the gas in the Siberian jet stream and spread it all over Northern Europe. Without Russia, the Noah Objective's done. Thanks to you, and your little talk with Ivankov. But the ministers still need to hear from the architect of the cure. The, um, tie-wearing architect."

Mitch looks over at her confused. "Nobody who ever saved the world needed to wear a tie."

"Fine. Change into whatever people who save the world wear, and meet me in the vehicle bay."

I shake my head, "No, I'm just gonna stay here and continue looking for Jackson."

"But we have Vera Salvon secured in a safe zone. She can synthesize the cure."

"So?"

"So we don't need Jackson. Plus, we need you to go and speak with Mitch."

"I'm not going anywhere until I find Jackson."

"I'm staying with her." Abe comments.

"All right, how about this? Divide and conquer." Mitch suggests, "You guys go crash the Oz family reunion, and we'll go restart the Cold War, okay?"

I nod. "Sounds like a plan."

Mitch, Allison, and Jamie leave to get ready to head to Russia. When they're gone Abe sits and sighs. "I... I just can't help thinking that if I had told Jackson about my history with his father earlier, we could've avoided all of this."

Dariela sits next to him, "You were trying to protect Jackson. Sometimes it's hard to find the right moment to share a secret."

"Secrets are just another kind of lie. That's not the way you treat people you love."

"right. Coffee?" Dariela looks from me to Abe.

Abe nods, "Sure."

"Can't have coffee." I sigh.

Dariela nods and stands, walking down the catwalk to the stairs. As she does we hear the cargo bay doors open.

Abe looks over to me "did you hear?"

I nod and look up at Abe, "Jackson."

Abe and I rush down to the cargo bay and see Jackson getting out of the red car we had been trying to track. Abe rushes down the ramp to Jackson. "I'm sorry, Rafiki, about everything."

Jackson shakes his head, "No, Abe, I'm sorry. I did not mean.."

"What happened? We saw you with your father, and then where did you go?"

"He knew where to go, where-where Davies couldn't find us. And everything was fine, but then he tried to poison me."

"What?"

"I don't know what happened, but, Abe, we gotta get out of here. We gotta get this plane up in the air because Davies is gonna be looking for us."

Abe stops him, "Jackson where is your father?"

Jackson gestures towards the trunk, "Right there."

"Did Davies do this?"

"I think I did." Jackson looks up to me, "Hi, Kat."


	21. Babies

As the plane takes off Dariela walks into the Cargo Bay, "A little heads-up on the takeoff would've been nice. Is this Jackson's car?"

Abe nods, "We need to get out of U.S. airspace before General Davies can find us."

Jackson looks up to Dariela with rage in his eyes, "you… You were supposed to put me…"

Abe grabs Jackson, Jackson. Jackson, come…. We need to restrain him..." Abe shouts as he pushes Jackson against the railing between the cars. "Jackson, no, stop!"

Dariela straps his arms to the railing, "We had a deal. Jackson snarls, "You were supposed to put me down, not just shoot me. You didn't do it, you coward. I want you to see what you've done. Go over there, see what you've done." Jackson glance from Dariela to the back of the car then back to her.

I rush around stopping a few feet in front of Abe and Jackson when his eyes meet mine my freeze, "The defiant pupil…" One of his eyes has the same blown pupil we've seen on the animals.

Abe steps away from Jackson, but he tries to get out of the bounds. Throwing himself forward like an animal. "We're trying to help you, Jackson."

I shake my head, "This isn't Jackson." As he struggles the veins in his arms go black.

"We're doing this for your safety." Abe looks up to Dariela, "We'll be right back, Rafiki. Come, help me." Abe gestures for Dariela to help him with Robert.

As the almost drag an unconscious man up the ramp, Jackson shouts, "Where are you going? Abe, don't do it! Don't help him! He's evil. Don't trust him. He did this to me. You hear me? Don't trust him." I place a hand over my mouth, leaning against the side of one of the cars. "What aren't you gonna go with them?" I look him, wide-eyed. I take a deep breath, as I do I get dizzy and weak again, falling back into the truck. As I do I hear Jackson call out softly, "Kat? Are you okay?"

"I don't know, I think the mutation tries to spark when I'm pissed." I look over to him with a look of worry and fear.

"Hey, hey, it's gonna be okay. Mitch is gonna make the cure and it'll be okay."

I shake my head, "You're just like the animals."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you act normal around me."

"If you have the mutation too, shouldn't they be afraid of you?"

"There is another factor that goes into how they act around me."

Jackson looks up at me confused, "What?"

I take a deep breath, "Jackson, I'm pregnant."

Jackson chuckles "What? Seriously?" I nod and he tries to walk over to me, but he can't since he is tied up. "Kat that's amazing."

I walk up to him, staying at least a feet away from him. "In other circumstances, it would be."

"No, it's amazing now. I love you and you love me, that's all that matters."

"But you aren't you… Not around our friends… our family."

"We are going to find a cure and everything will be fixed."

"Jackson we have less than 46 hours to stop Davies or none of this will matter."

"I will not let him hurt you." Jackson looks over my shoulder and narrows his eyes and his breaths become almost growly.

I turn and see Robert. "Hello, Jackson." I step away from Jackson as he becomes agitated again, "You're gonna have to trust me."

"Why would I ever trust you?"

"Because I'm your father."

"I buried my father two years ago."

Robert holds up a pill, "Take this, and I'll explain why." Jackson looks over to me and I nod, as I do he takes the pill. As soon as he does Jackson begins to calm down, his veins go back to normal, and so does his eye, "There you are."

"Dad? Kat?" Robert nods and cuts him loose. I smile over to Jackson and step over to him, giving him a hug. When I pull away slightly Jackson looks into my eyes, whispering softly, "We're having a baby…"

I smile and nod, "Yeah, we are."

"Whoa, whoa, hold on…" I turn to Robert, who is waving his head, "timeout… Jackson, who is this lovely young lady."

Jackson smile and steps to my side, turning me to his father, "Dad, this is Katherine, my fiance" he smiles over to me, looking into my eyes, "And we are expecting a baby." I smile up at Jackson, so happy to hear him say those words.

"Well, congrats kids." Robert smiles to the both of us.

When the three of us make it back to the lab, Trotter comes over the P.A. "We've got an incoming call."

Abe walks over to the phone, "From who?"

"General Davies. He's asking to speak to Robert Oz."

"Okay. Patch him through."

The phone clicks and Davies speaks on the other end, "Professor Oz?"

"You're mistaken. He's not here." Abe replies.

"Smart choice to leave U.S. airspace. Small snag, you are headed straight for the USS Kettner, and all its F-18s are fueled up and itching to get in the air."

"I'm here, Davies," Robert calls out. "There's no need to do anything rash."

"We had a deal. Now, you have your son back, you give me the real formula for the TX gas or your little reunion will end up on the bottom of the Atlantic." Davies hangs up.

"Why does Davies think that you have the TX gas formula? Jackson looks over to Robert.

Abe shakes his head, "But he can't shoot us down, not when he needs something from Robert."

"Because I created the TX gas," Robert confesses.

"You created the TX gas? You want to kill all the animals and 2.2 million people?" I step forward.

"It's complicated."

Dariela and Abe are having their own conversation, but I hear Dariela make a comment about an EMP. Robert looks over to her, "I could build an EMP."

Jackson shakes his head, "Now you want to kill the pilots?"

"The electromagnetic pulse won't kill them, it'll kill their planes. That's what ejector seats are for."

Abe looks to Robert, "You really think that'll work?"

"It's just as cuckoo as every other plan we've had." Dariela shrugs. "We cut the power to the plane, fire the EMP then turn our power back on."

Robert turns to Jackson. " Jackson, I know you have a lot of questions, and I will answer them all. But first, we have to build a bomb." Robert turns and starts to list off what he needs, "We need alligator clips, batteries, copper wire."

Jackson shakes his head, "I am not doing anything with you until you give me answers."

"All right, what would you like to know?"

"Everything, Why are you working for Davies? Why'd you faked your death? Where have you been?"

"I know this may be hard for you to believe but everything I've ever done was for you and your mother."

"You're a lying piece…"

"I understand that you're upset."

"You understand nothing! I killed her because of you."

"Who?"

Jackson shouts and looks like he has a lump in his throat, "mom… I killed Mom because of you. Because you turned her into something horrible. So I put an end to it."

"Jackson, I had no idea. I never meant"

"Yes, you did! You created what she became. What I am becoming. And if Davies drops the gas I'll lose Kat and own baby."

"I am so sorry. I was trying to protect you."

"You can't expect me to believe that."

"I knew what was coming. And when the animals changed, I wanted to know that you and your mother would survive. I had no idea that you would experience these side effects. The lab burned down. My research was cut short."

"I burned down the lab, so it's my fault?"

"No, of course not. I'm not blaming you. Quite the opposite. You saw a situation that troubled you. And you took a drastic action to protect someone you love. We're not so different, you and I. And we will all be falling out of the sky soon if we don't get this done."

Robert gathers a few things and walks off as I look over to Jackson. "Jackson, I know it'll be hard, but you're going to have to trust your father right now."

Jackson nods and follows his father when I go to see the two of them, they have made a lot of progress. Robert chuckles as some sparks fly out of the machine. "This reminds me of your third-grade science fair project, do you remember?"

"No," Jackson answers coldly.

"You made a crystal radio, so you could try to hear the aliens. It was a hell of a radio."

"What I do remember is getting a phone call telling me that my dad had gone crazy and thrown himself overboard while deep-sea fishing. Oh, and that he drowned."

"That was years later."

"So what happened? Why'd you do it?"

"I had a lab in Japan. On the island. Off of Fukushima."

I step forward, stopping next to Jackson, "We know, we went there with Abe when everything started."

"Your dear old dad at his finest. I was discovered by a group of people who thankfully looked past the eccentric nature of my work. They recruited me to be part of a para-government organization. I didn't know exactly who these people were at the time. All that mattered was that they believed me. They suggested that my research could be done more effectively if I was off the grid."

Jackson looks up at him, "Meaning dead. Well, then how'd you wind up with Davies?"

"When the animals changed, these people that recruited me told the government that I wasn't quite as dead as they'd assumed. I started working on what became the Noah Objective. Of course, everything changed when I learned what was happening to the A3GC carriers."

"A3GC?"

"The gene responsible for your mutation."

I nod, "We call that the ghost gene."

"That's a much cooler name. When I learned the ghost gene carriers were experiencing side effects, I sabotaged my work on the gas. I demanded that Davies find you, and I started working on ways that I could help you."

Jackson shakes his head, "Mom and I thought that you were crazy. Turns out that you were right all along."

"Those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."

"You had that written on a Post-it note in the Subaru by the radio."

"Nietzsche. Now, that you remember."

I smile at the two of them, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Robert looks up to me, "You can tell me the story of how you and Jackson met. I don't think Jackson will tell me."

I smile softly. "Well, my family and I went to Africa on a vacation, from New York."

"Ahh, city girl… I'm guessing you fell for more than the landscape and the animals."

I look over to Jackson, "As soon as I saw him, I was smitten… We stayed in contact after I left and about six months later we were on me planning on moving down there."

As I smile down at Jackson, Abe rushes in with Dariela in his arms. "I need help!"

I rush over to the two of them, "What happened?"

"I don't know, she just collapsed."

Robert shakes his head, "Of course. I should have known when the badger sprayed her."

"Knew what?" Abe asks.

I look up to Abe, "She's pregnant, Abe."

"Pregnant?"

Robert nods, "Yes. The carboxylic acids I harvested from the badger, they attack duplicating cells. They don't distinguish between cells that are duplicating towards death and towards life."

Abe looks over to Jackson, "Dariela is pregnant."

"Uh, it would appear so. Any idea who the father is?"

"Yes. Quite a good idea."

I look over to Robert, "Could she lose the baby?"

"Not if we act fast."

Abe looks over to Robert, "Please, do something."

"Of course." Robert nods as he walks away.

Dariela starts to wake up, "Wait. Maybe we shouldn't. Animals are drawn to me. I'm a target. I'll just I'll keep bringing heat to the team."

I look down at her, Abe had laid her on one of tables. "We can handle it. Plus, I am not going through pregnancy on my own."

Abe nods, "What about what you said? About the future?"

"Do we really want to bring a child into this mess?"

"Yes. Yes, we do."

"You can't answer that quickly."

"Before, I was wrong. But now I have something to fight for. Unless you don't want to."

"I do. I think. But only if you're sure, Bubble Bath. 'Cause I can't do this alone."


	22. EMP

Abe holds Dariela's hand and I walk over to him, "Abe, you and Jackson go and take care of the EMP. Robert and I will take care of Dariela."

"Are you sure?"

I nod, "Yes, now go."

Trotter comes over the intercom, "They found us."

Jackson looks over to Abe, "You need to put the EMP in place. Now."

Abe nods and looks down to Dariela, "I'll be back." Jackson and Abe run off with the EMP, Robert and Jackson had been working on.

I look over to Robert, "What can we do?"

"Let's see if we can't neutralize the effects of the acid."

Dariela sets up and Robert finishes his little mixture, "They weren't kidding about maternal instincts kicking in and all that. I'm more worried about this potion working than the F-18s turning us into a fiery afterthought."

Robert chuckles, "Welcome to parenthood. You girls will learn soon that the word "I" will disappear from your vocabulary. You'll never go to sleep without thinking of your child first, never again blow out birthday candles and make a wish for yourself."

I take a deep breath, "you talk a good game for a guy who ran out on his family."

"Not every parent knows how to share their truth. Doesn't make their love a lie."

"Yeah, but you also kind of turned your family into mutants, didn't you?" Dariela sighs.

Robert nods, "I'm afraid this isn't gonna be pleasant."

"Now that I believe." Dariela winces softly as Robert stickers her with the needle. "Welcome to parenthood, right?"

"Yes, Welcome to parenthood."

"We should get ready for them to cut the power." I look from Robert Dariela. Dariela nods and the three of us head to the kitchen and sit down. Dariela and I buckle ourselves in. The power on the plane cuts off and a few moments later it turns back on. "I guess that means it worked."

Before long Abe and Jackson come running into the kitchen, "You feeling better now?"

"Be better soon. Our lab's a little short of seat belts. We thought it would be best to buckle up, just in case." Robert nods and looks from Dariela to Abe, answering for her as the three of us stand.

"are you all right?"

"Yeah. Let's just get one thing straight." Dariela looks over to me, "Just because we're pregnant, we're not gonna turn this into a whole overprotective thing, right?"

Jackson laughs, "So you're still Knocked up?"

Dariela nods and looks over to Robert, "That's what the doc tells me."

Robert nods, "I think the baby's gonna be fine. I was able to reverse the effects of the acid. Just steer clear of badgers... And otters... Actually, to be safe, let's give a wide berth to the entire Mustelidae family."

"Copy that."

"And same for you" Robert looks over to me.

I nod, "can do."

Abe looks to Robert, "Robert I don't know what to say."

"Oh." Robert looks between Jackson and Abe. "I know that you may never be able to forgive me for Elizabeth. Both of you, hell all three of you," Robert looks to me, before looking back to the boys, "have the right to hate me. But I hope eventually you'll believe me when I say all I wanted was the best for her. And you." He shifts his glaze to Jackson.

Abe and Dariela head upstairs, but Jackson, Robert, and I stay in the kitchen and Robert starts to make some grilled cheese sandwiches. Jackson takes a drink of his beer, "You know, no one's used the stove since we've been here."

I nod, "Microwave, yeah, but the stove, no."

Robert chuckles "Can hardly blame you. With all the globe-trotting and world-saving. But after the stunt we pulled, we deserve a home-cooked meal. Or at least some melted cheese on bread."

"We've changed courses, away from the carrier, so we should be okay. Davies will have trouble finding us." Jackson sighs, "But we're gonna have to go back at some point. Find the others, refuel."

I nod, "And Davies will probably find us then."

Robert shakes his head, "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. First, please tell me you remember me making you grilled cheese sandwiches." Robert places two plates on the bar area of the kitchen counter in front of Jackson and I.

"What's with all these questions about what I remember?" Jackson looks over to him.

"Guess I wanted to see where I stood in your memories. Is it all mad scientist? Or if there's still some good in there."

"Like crystal radios."

"Crystal Radios. Grilled cheese sandwiches. Chess."

"I remember chess."

"You were good at chess."

"I was not good at chess. You beat me every time we played."

"Not every time. Pender Island?"

" That's right. I did beat you once. You didn't let me win, did you? No, not even close. I always told you that you needed to think…"

"Five moves ahead. I remember. And I did. And it was never good enough."

"It was enough that day. You were thinking five, six, even seven moves ahead. And you demolished me. That was the happiest loss of my life. I was so proud of you. I am so proud of you. The man you've become. The work you've done. This is all very impressive." Robert looks over at me.

"Hardly. The only thing impressive about me is Kat."

"What are you talking about? The sloth, the snake. All Triple-Helix, I'm guessing. You figured out the cure. No one in the government's even come close."

"Yeah, well, that's just it. We're close, but that's not good enough. We, uh we have to find a saber-toothed cat."

"Ooh, that does present a challenge. What with their being extinct."

I sigh, "There's a rumor that we can find one on an island. Called Pangaea." As I make that comment we hear the sound of jets flying by, I look over to Jackson, "How'd Davies find us?"

Jackson gets up and moves to the window as Robert heads to the phone in the kitchen, "I've just emailed you the correct formula. Test it. I assure you it will work. Now leave me and my son alone."

Jackson looks at Robert, shocked, "How could you do that?"

"We underestimated him. He'd just send another plane and then another."

I shake my head, "You just gave him the TX gas formula. You are killing all the animals and me, Kat, our child, and anyone else with the ghost gene."

"No," Robert shakes his head. "What I'm doing is thinking seven moves ahead."

"How can you say that?"

"I need you to turn off the plane transponders and give your pilot this." Robert hands a note to Jackson.

"What is this?"

"I'm taking you to meet my friends."

"Your friends?"

"That's right. They've been waiting to meet you. Together, we will fix you, fix the animals and save the world."

Jackson scoffs, "After everything that we have been through, how do you expect me to believe a word that you are saying to me?"

Robert shakes his head, "It'll all become clear in Pangaea."

"Pangaea?" I question

"That's right. I'm taking you to meet my friends, the Shepherds, who live on the island of Pangaea."

Jackson heads over to the intercom, "Trotter, I need you to turn off the transponders and go to the following coordinates."


	23. Pangea

While we are on our way to Pangea, I look around the rooms and find a guitar in one of the hall closets. As I am sitting in the living room tuning it Jackson comes in. "It's been a while since I've heard you play."

I smile, "Well, I haven't had a chance to play."

"Oh, it's been since we left Africa for Japan, hasn't it?"

I nod, "Sounds about right."

Jackson smiles, "What has that sound you sang when you first moved to Africa?"

I look down at the guitar and play a few cords of the song, " _You said the way my blue eyes shined, put those African stairs to shame that night._ " When I glance up to Jackson I see Robert behind him and stop.

"You have a lovely voice… please don't let me stop you."

I nod and continue, " _I said 'that's a lie.' Just a boy in a Chevy truck, that had a tendency of gettin' stuck. On back roads at night._ " Jackson chuckles, still smiling at me, as I continue, eventually Jackson joins in.

" _And I was right there beside him all summer long._

 _And then the time we woke up to find that summer had gone._

 _But when you think 'Tim McGraw.'_

 _I hope you think my favorite song._

 _The one we danced to all night long._

 _The moon like a spotlight on the lake._

 _When you think happiness._

 _I hope you think that loose white dress._

 _Think of my head on your chest_

 _And my old faded blue jeans._

 _When you think 'Tim McGraw.'_

 _I hope you think of me."_

 **(From Tim McGraw, by Taylor Swift. Some works changed to fix Jackson and Katherine.)**

I don't sing the rest, but instead look up to Jackson and smile. When I look over to Robert, I see that Abe and Dariela are in the doorway as well.

Dariela smiles at me, "That was beautiful, Kat."

Abe nods, "She's always been talented."

Jackson nods, "Yeah, she has."

Not long after that, the plane lands in Pangea. When we get off the plane Robert leads the group to a compound on the island. "Welcome to Sierra One. Nerve center of Pangaea."

"From the air, you have no idea any of this is here." I look around.

"Yeah, that's the idea." Robert looks from me to Jackson, "You okay, son?"

"Why'd you bring us here?"

"To get the saber-toothed cat, complete your cure and save the animals."

"Yeah, you gave Davies the formula for the TX gas. That gas will kill all the animals. And over two million people."

"Not if we do what we came here to do."

"And what is that exactly? You've told us nothing."

I sigh, "What is this place? What have you been doing here?"

A woman walks over to the group, "The same thing you and your team have been doing. Trying to save the world."

Robert greets her, "Dr. Nielsen. My son, Jackson. His fiance, Katherine. And their teammates, Dariela Marzan, Abraham Kenyatta."

"It's a pleasure to meet you all. We've been following your progress. I understand your apprehension. Explanations are in order. If you'll follow me?" Dr. Nielsen turns and leads us through the compound, "Pangaea was established in the mid-19th century by a consortium of scientists, the Shepherds, who feared human progress would one day be the undoing of our planet."

Jackson, who has a hold of my hand turns to his father, "So this is where you've been since you died two years ago?"

Robert nods, "yeah. Working with the other Shepherd scientists to stop the animal mutation."

"Well, if that's true, how did you end up with the Noah Objective?"

Dr. Nielsen looks over her shoulder. "We placed him there. It was the only way to control Davies."

I shake my head slightly, "Control Davies? Davies has everything that he needs to move forward with the Noah Objective because of this guy."

"That was the only way to save you and your team's work."

"How do you even know what we've been doing?"

"We've had our eye on Dr. Morgan for quite a while. When he and Jackson started working together, well, we expected great things."

"Then you know he should be here." Jackson looks from his father to Dr. Nielsen.

"We're trying to locate him and Jamie Campbell as we speak."

I scoff, "Call me a bitch, but trying doesn't really cut it anymore."

Robert shakes his head, "The best thing you can do for Mitch and Jamie is to work with us to prepare the cure."

I chuckle, "One it's funny that you think we're going to trust you. Two, even if Mitch's protocols work, we haven't finalized a way to distribute it."

"But we have." Dr. Nielsen turns to the large screen in the main room she lead the team to, "This is our aviary. We've developed a genetically enhanced strain of the avian flu. The perfect vector. But instead of disease, this virus will be carrying your cure, which 40,000 birds will deliver into the animal population."

"Birds?"

"Yes. Birds."

Dariela sighs, "There's just one thing. We still need a live DNA sample from a saber-toothed cat."

"And that's where I come in." One of the shepherds steps forward.

"Who are you?"

Dr. Nielsen gestures to the man, "This is Reece. Head of security. Knows the island better than anybody else."

Reece nods, "The saber-tooths are in Quadrant Six."

I shake my head, "knowing where they are and how to find one in the open so we can collect a sample, two very different things."

"Well, we have experience tracking animals." Abe comments.

"Not like these. They're reclusive, secretive. I've lived on this island for half my life, and I've only seen one in the wild." Reece shakes his head.

Dariela looks around the group, "What if we lure them out?"

"Sure. But it's not like we can tie a side of beef to a tree and just wait."

Dariela walks toward Reece. "I'm the only side of beef you need."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm pregnant. The animals are drawn to me."

I nod, "She's right."

Abe stands, "Absolutely not."

Dariela turns to him, "Abe."

"What are you proposing? This could endanger your life and the life of our child."

"It's the only way. If we don't get this sample, there is no cure, and there won't be a world left to raise our child in. Besides, I'm a better shot than you anyway."

Dissipate Abe's protect, Abe, Dariela, and Reece head out to look over the saber-tooth. While Jackson and I wait for them in the plane. Jackson and I walk into the lab and find it is a mess, "Well, Mitch is not gonna be happy about this."

Robert shakes his head, "No, he'll be fine. Especially if we complete the genomic fossil serum."

"Isn't this all, um, too little, too late, Dad? I mean, you gave Davies the TX gas formula. He has the combined air forces of the IADG to distribute it."

"And we have the birds. It will take them time to manufacture the gas. And at the drop zone, it will take at least 12 hours to take effect. Which means that we not only have a chance, we might actually have an advantage. But I can't do it without you."

"You really, uh, enjoy being the underdog, don't you?"

Robert shrugs, "Against all odds, a hero still makes it home in time for supper. Your mother used to tell me that whenever the pot roast was getting cold. Now, if these calculations are correct, the serum will not only eliminate the mutation from your DNA and create a by-product in your blood that will allow us to cure the animals."

"No pressure."

"You're gonna do great, son." Robert walks over to Jackson and pats the back of his neck.

"You used to do that before my track meets. Pat me on the back of the neck.

"I loved to watch you run. You always started so damn fast. It was like a lion was chasing you."

"Made me feel like you were out there with me, pushing me to run faster."

"So I was a lion?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess so."

"Well, today I am not leaving your side. We're doing this. Together."

I begin pacing back and forth the stress of the situation increasing, Jackson walks up to me, "Hey, hey… don't stress, it's not good for you or the baby. Why don't you sit down."

Robert nods, "Sit and tell me about that little song you two sang earlier."

I take a deep breath and shake my head, as I do I get another splitting headache and drop to my knees. Jackson catches me, "Kat, Kat, what's wrong?"

Robert rushes over as Jackson helps me to one of the chairs, "What's going on?"

I shake my head, "It's nothing, it's just a headache, I've been getting them every time I get stressed or upset since I found out I was pregnant."

Robert stands and grabs a stethoscope, before coming back and placing it on my stomach. "Umm… I can't be sure, but I think Katherine's body is trying to fight off her mutation due to her pregnancy. Which doesn't make any sense, since it is probably what caused it to start."

Jackson shakes his head, "What… what does that mean?"

"Her body is trying to fight the mutation and mutate all at the same time. It is literally at war with itself."

I look to Robert, "What does that mean for the baby?"

Robert looks up to me and then to Jackson. "I don't know."


	24. The Cure

After Robert takes some of my blood and some of Jackson's, the two of them manage to calm me down, a bit. I end up sitting one of the desks with my head in my hand, with my elbow on the table, and Jackson and Robert start preparing samples, "Did you prep that sloth sample?"

"Right here."

"Thank you..." Robert looks over to Jackson, "What is it?"

"It's nice to see you doing good work in the lab again, Dad."

"It's a relief to be able to do my work in the open, finally. With you. No secrets." Robert finishes up some of the samples, "And into the centrifuge with you."

Trotter comes over the intercom, "Abe and Dariela are on their way back. They have the saber-toothed cat DNA."

Robert chuckles, "We'll be ready. Why Dr. Morgan made the protocol so complicated is beyond me. I know a simpler way to prep the DNA from the saber-tooth."

"Please don't do that. Took me hours of trial and error to get that protocol right."

I look over and see Jamie and Mitch coming into the lab, "It's about time you guys showed up."

Jamie walks up to me and hugs me tightly, "come here."

Jackson and I hug Mitch and Jamie, but when we separate I look over and see an oh too familiar face, coming in with one of the soldiers working with the shepherds. "Logan."

Robert speaks from behind us, "Mansdale, you brought one of Davies' men here?"

"Considering we just destroyed the Noah Objective's supply of clean DNA, I'm pretty sure I'm off of Davies' Christmas card list."

I look at him a little confused, "You did what?"

Jamie nods, "It's gone. We blew it up. No clean DNA, no Noah Objective."

"That's unbelievable."

Mitch scoffs, "Well, what's unbelievable is that we, uh, intercepted him trying to steal it."

Logans shrugs, "Nobody's perfect."

"He's a liability." Robert comments.

As Robert does, Logan looks over to Jamie, "Oh, don't look at me. I don't even know your real name. And frankly, I don't care. Do what you want with him." Jamie walks off.

"Jamie," Logan calls out to her, but she doesn't stop.

"You heard her," I smirk.

"I don't want him anywhere near the compound. You understand me?" Robert addresses Mansdale.

"Yes, sir."

Logan is taken, I don't know where, calling out to Jamie, "Jamie. Jamie!"

Robert steps between Jackson and I to Mitch, "Dr. Morgan, it's an honor. The work you've done here is exemplary."

"Thank you. Looks like you've been busy."

"Yes but now the real work can begin."

To give the two of them some time to work Jackson and head upstairs, but given the fact, someone is working with Mitch, it doesn't take long for us to hear them fighting, "I followed your protocol to the letter."

"Then why aren't we seeing any reaction?"

"I don't know. Maybe there are problems with the protocol."

"The protocol's fine."

Jackson and I walk onto the catwalk and Jackson goes down to the landing of the stairs and down into the lab "Hey. What the hell's going on here?"

"Ask your dear ol' dad."

"Your DNA is not interacting with the serum the way we need it to."

"I'm telling you, something has changed. And if it wasn't the protocol or the DNA or the genomic fo..." Jackson begins to tap on the table, "What-what is that?"

"It's nothing."

I sigh walking down onto the landing of the stairs, "Robert has been medicating Jackson, to control his symptoms."

Jackson nods, "It's obviously time for the next dose."

"What medication?" Mitch looks over to Robert.

"The badger acid. It's interfering with the serum."

"How long is it gonna take to clear his system?"

"36 hours?"

"What? No. We don't have that kind of time."

"But you said that the Noah Objective planes are grounded, so we're not fighting against a clock."

"Yeah, but the animals don't know that. The mutation could change," Mitch snaps his fingers, "again in 36 hours, so our window is now. No more medication until we figure this out."

Robert shakes his head, "But without it, the symptoms of the mutation will come back, unabated."

Jackson takes a deep breath, "I can handle it."

I shake my head and call out softly, "But can they handle you."

Jackson looks up at me, as Robert sighs, "I'll talk to Dr. Nielsen. I'll see if there are any other drug candidates that may help mitigate the symptoms."

Once Robert leaves to go take to Dr. Nielsen it doesn't take long for Jackson to begin to lose it again, and soon he heads to the Cargo Bay. Robert and Nielsen had found a few things, but they'd interfere, so when Abe and Dariela get to the plane Robert and Mitch get to work getting ready to extract the cure from Jackson.

Since I'm not thrilled that Jackson is in the Cargo Bay, given what happened last time I head out to check on him. When I get there he is sweaty and shaky, "How are they doing in there?"

"They're working as fast as they can. How are you?"

"I feel like, uh there's a dam inside me about to crack wide open and there's nothing I can do to stop it."

"Mitch, your father, and the Shepherds they're working on a solution."

I don't know, Kat, Even if they do figure it out, there's no guarantee that the serum will work."

"Yeah, well, what if it doesn't?"

"Jackson..."

"Kat, listen to me. Whatever's happening inside of me, it is happening very fast. So, I need you to promise me that you will do what Dariela couldn't."

I shake my head, as tears well up in my eyes, "I can't."

"You have to..."

"No, no, I..."

"Please..."

"Listen to me!" Jackson hits the rails before taking a deep breath to calm down, "I don't want to hurt anybody else. Okay?"

I shake my head, "This isn't you."

"But pretty soon, baby, it's all that's gonna be left of me."

"Jackson, it doesn't have to come to that."

"What if it already has and we just don't know it yet? I can't end up like Kovacs... like my mother..." Jackson stops and tears up before stepping closer to me kissing my forehead, "Please. It can only be you. You're the love of my life."

I take a deep shaky breath. "Okay..."

Jackson looks down at me and presses his forehead against mine, as tears roll down my cheek. As we stand there we hear Abe, "Mitch wants to see you two."

When we walk into the lab we see that Robert is in one of the chairs that they had step up for Jackson. Mitch gestures for Jackson to sit as well. Jackson places a hand on my cheek and kisses me softly before he does.

When he sits Mitch straps him in, "How are you feeling?"

"Peachy."

Abe comes over to check the straps as Mitch continues setting up. "Make sure the straps are tight."

Dariela, Jamie and I are sitting on the stairs in front of them, "I've seen a lot of improvised field medicine, but this is something else."

I shake my head, "You know, it's crazy enough it just might work."

Robert nods, "I wish I'd thought of it."

Mitch walks around the two of them as he starts to explain. "We don't have to completely eliminate the badger acid from Jackson's system, just reduce it. If we can increase his blood volume with some genetically analogous whole blood cells."

Jamie nods, "So, Robert's providing a kind of genetic transfusion."

"Yeah and we're only gonna get one shot at this, so everybody ready?"

Jackson and Robert look to each other, "Ready."

Mitch begins the transfusion, but Jackson doesn't seem to be reacting to it well. I stand on the stairs, "What's happening?"

"He's hypertensive."

Robert looks over his shoulder to Mitch, "Is his blood pressure still within range?"

"Barely. 190/130."

Jackson shakes his head, "I'm fine, keep going."

I walk over to Jackson, "it's okay, baby."

It takes a few minutes but the monitor finally stops beeping. "Okay, the transfusion worked. The acid shouldn't interfere with the serum."

Robert looks over to Jackon, "Homestretch, son."

I sigh, "thank God." As I stay that Jackson's progress against the mutation black slides and very quickly hits bottom. His veins go black and his pupil blows again. As Jackson changes Abe grabs me and pulls me back. "Jackson."

Robert looks over to me," With the acid diluted, there's nothing holding the mutation back. We have to hurry."

Mitch points to something behind Abe. "I need that serum."

As Abe moves to get the serum and give it to Mitch, I cross over to Dariela and Jamie. Once, Mitch, has the serum prepared he stops next to Jackson, "Alright, I'm not gonna lie, buddy. This is... this is gonna hurt"

"Just do it!" Jackson shouts as he begins to shake and sweat.

Mitch injects Jackson with the serum and the heart rate monitor slows down, but Jackson goes almost limp as his body relaxes. Mitch walks around and kind of taps Jackson's cheek, "Hey, you still with us."

Jackson slowly raises his head, "That wasn't so bad." Jackson takes a few deep breaths as a black liquid flows into the bag, Mitch has attached to Jackson.

I point to it, stills standing up Jamie, "what is that?"

"That would be our cure. It'll take a little while to all of it out of his system but we're almost done."


	25. Birds

Since it will take a little while to get the cure from Jackson the team leaves the lab, giving me some time with the Oz boys. Jackson still looks weak and tired, but then again we are taking quite a large substance out of his body. I walk over to him and he lays his head on my chest and rubs my stomach with his thumb as I lay my head against his.

"Hey there, little guy, it's okay, daddy's gonna be fine." Even Jackson's voice sounds weak.

"Little guy? Why do you assume its a boy?"

"I don't know. I just have a feeling it's a boy."

I sigh and kiss the top of his head and rub the back on his neck with my thumb as I hold him. But as I do I hear Robert clear his throat, "Now, I'd hate to ruin such a nice moment, but I need to talk to the two of you."

I look over to Robert, "about what?"

"Katherine, with the mutation trying to take hold in your body while you are pregnant, especially this early on…. If we don't get the cure disrupted fast enough, it's very likely that you will miscarry."

I can feel and see the tears well up in my eyes, as I do I hear Mitch call out from behind me, "We have another problem."

I turn to look to Mitch, "Jackson's not producing enough of the cure compound."

Robert looks over to the bag, "No, you're right. There should be twice that amount by now."

Jackson looks over to Robert, "Well, what does that mean?" Robert doesn't answer and just shakes his head, "Hey, you said no more secrets. What does that mean?"

"At this rate, there's a good chance you'll die before you produce enough of this."

"Okay, then bleed me dry. Take as much of the compound as you need."

I shake my head, "Did you hear what he said? that'll kill you."

"Yeah, I heard him, at least this way, I die for something."

"And you'll leave me and our child."

"That's not how I see it, I see it as I am giving our child a world to grow up in."

Robert shakes his head, "No."

Jackson looks over to Robert, "No, listen, Dad, we tried everything."

"No, no, we haven't tried everything." Robert looks over to Mitch, "Give me the genomic fossil serum."

I shake my head, "Uh, you don't have the mutation. You can't do that."

"This isn't about me. This is about Jackson. With my body pre-staging the serum, Jackson won't have to work so hard to synthesize the cure." Robert looks over to Jackson, "It'll be like that Mother's Day when you were five. You wanted to make your mom an omelet."

Jackson sighs, "Oh, come on, no omelet analogies."

"Indulge me… I cut the bell peppers, the mushrooms, cracked the eggs. And you poured everything into the pan and finished the omelet. Remember?"

"No," Jackson shakes his head, "What I do remember is Mom coming," he begins to chuckle, "downstairs and saying that she was craving pancakes."

"She did, didn't she?"

"The dog got the omelet and we went to IHOP."

Robert nods, before looking over to Mitch, "Hey, Mitch, will this work?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Get the injection ready. And I think, um, I think that was probably one of your mom's favorite Mother's Days."

"Oh, I don't know about that, Dad, but the dog sure got a kick out of it." Jackson looks over to Mitch, "-what will the serum do to him?" I can't help but think 'it'll kill him without the mutation.'

"Oh, I'll be fine."

"Wait a second. Hey. Wait wait a second, Mitch."

"Jackson, there is no other way."

"No, no, no. No, there is another way."

The boys' voice begin to overlap each other until, eventually Robert stops speaking and Jackson shouts, "Mitch, stop walking over there! Put that down! Put that down right now! Okay?!"

"I'm sorry, Jackson."

"No, no! No!"

Mitch injects Robert with the serum and Jackson's whole body tense again. Robert sighs, "Thank you, Dr. Morgan. Thank you." Mitch nods and leaves the room, I go to leave as well but Robert stops me. "Wait, Katherine, you're family. Family should be here."

I nod and step back onto the stairs, to sit down before looking up and seeing Abe and Dariela. The two of them nod before walking away and I spend the next ten to fifteen minutes listening to and laughing at bad animal jokes.

"All right, I got one for you. Why did the cow become an astronaut? Because he wanted to walk on the moo-on," Robert and Jackson finish the punchline of Robert's joke together.

Jackson sighs, "You realize how odd it is that all of our jokes are animal-based?"

"Of course. It was always about the animal. Beside those jokes tend to get the pretty girls." Robert looks over at me and smiles, before looking back to Jackson, "How you feeling, son?"

"Better."

"Good, good. I'm sorry, Jackson. I never got a chance to say this to your mother, and she deserved to hear it, so let me at least say it to you. I thought that I knew best. I always thought that I knew best. Truth be told, lying here in this chair, dying, fluids draining from my body, amidst an animal apocalypse that I may be partially responsible for, I still think that I know best. But that's my arrogance. The same arrogance that assured me that I could save all of us, that you and your mom would finally understand and come back to me. But instead, I almost lost both of you. Jackson, I thank God I finally had the chance to make it right. If not with your mother, then at least with you."

"Mom would have loved to have known the truth about you. You were always such a mystery to us. To me."

"Well, I hope you solved it by now. "Against all odds, a hero still makes it home in time for supper."

Jackson nods, "Hey, I got one for you. You ready? What did the aardvark say to the taxi driver?" Jackson waits to hear Robert, but he's gone, "Dad?" Jackson looks over to Robert and then over to me, "Untie me. Please."

I nod and walk over to him, untying him from the cot. "I'm sorry, Jackson."

Jackson walks over to Robert, "I'm right here, Dad. I'm right here."

I look over to the bag, "Mitch."

Mitch comes down the stairs and looks over to the bag, "It worked."

With that Mitch heads back up the stairs and Jackson turns to me, stepping forward and hugging me tightly as I place a hand on the back of his head. "It's okay."

Since the shepherds had everything set up to distribute the cure other than the cure it doesn't take long for us to get everything ready to go. Later that afternoon we are on the shoreline of Pangea, with about fifty cages with two or three birds in them, singing and cooing.

I lean back slightly into Jackson who is holding me from behind, "Look at them. They're normal."

Jackson nods, "It's been a long time since I've seen animals behave like they should."

One of the shepherds walks to Mitch who is a few feet away from Jackson and I, "This will activate the release switch on all the cages. There are seven launch points around the island. The birds are ready when you are, Professor."

Jamie sighs, "I wish Chloe were here."

I look over to Jamie and give her a bittersweet smile, "she would have loved this day more than anything."

Jackson nods and looks over to Mitch, "Well, what are you waiting for? Push it already."

Mitch presses the button and the cages open, birds pouring out of the tree line. Jackson steps to the side of me and I wrap an arm around him, as we watch the birds. A few minutes later Abe and Dariela walk up to us.

Dariela smiles, "So what's next?"

I look over to Jackson, "I don't know."

"And to be honest, not knowing feels pretty good. I miss Africa," Jackson sighs.

I nod, "So do I."

Abe looks down to Dariela, "Assuming all will be well from now on. How does Botswana sound to you?"

Dariela smiles, "Sounds like home."

Jackson pulls me in and kisses me softly, before kneeling down in front of me, placing his hands on my stomach, "What about you, little one? Botswana sound good to you?"

I laugh softly and shake my head, "Jackson…"

As Jackson stands and pulls me in again Jamie runs up, "They're dropping the gas! The Noah Objective The Noah Objective it's on. They've cleared the airspace. The planes are in the air already."

Dariela looks over to Mansdale and the shepherds on the beach with us, "You said you took care of the Noah Objective."

"And I did. The planes are doing exactly what they're meant to do."

"You did this?" I step forward as I do the shepherds pull out guns. Even going as far as to grab us.

Jackson shakes his head, "We just released the cure! That gas is gonna kill all the animals, Mansdale."

Mitch looks around worried, "And Clem."

Abe looks over to Mansdale, "What have you done? It makes no sense."

"It'll all be clear to you, to the entire world, very soon."

Jackson breaks loose from the shepherd who is holding him and runs towards Mansdale, "Son of a bitch!"

"Get them out of here!"


	26. Mitch

They take us to almost a cave with a metal door on it and throw us in. When they close to doors Jackson rush the door, " Damn you! You killed them all!"

Jackson turns around and I shake my head, "calm down."

Abe looks around, "We got to find a way out of here. Let's look over here." we walk around the try to find something to help us.

Mitch sighs, "I got to get to my daughter."

I glance back to him, "We'll figure it out, Mitch."

"Well, that's easy for you to say. The serum cured you and Jackson, Clem still has the ghost gene. Once they drop that gas over Maine, she's got less than 12 hours to live."

"Why would the Shepherds help us make a cure to save the animals and then drop a gas that will kill them?"

We walk around the cave and come either walls or bars. Dariela walks up to one of the walls, "Check these out."

We walk over and see claw marks, deep and long marks, slicked throw the rock. As I step closer to the wall I notice there is a crevice beside and that someone is in it. I jump back when they move, "What the Hell?!"

When the person's face comes into the light, we can see that it's Logan, Abe helps him up, "Logan? What happened to you?"

"Some kind of animal gets in here. I barely made it into this crevice. Otherwise, I'd be dead."

Jamie scoffs, "Well, you're just one lucky son of a bitch, then, aren't you?"

I glance to Jamie and then back to Logan, "How did the animal get inside?"

Before Logan can answer alarms being to wail, Logan shakes his head and looks around panicked, "No, no, no, no. It's feeding time again. That gate opens. They come in here. This cavern is their food bowl."

I head back over to the gate, "As soon as the gate opens, I say we run like hell."

Jackson nods, "That's crux The southern cross. Which means south is that way." He points where we should head, "The Shepherd compound was at the southernmost tip of the island. And that's where the plane is."

Abe walks over to some piping and begins to break it. Dariela turns as we hear him kicking it, "Abe, what are you doing?"

"We need to protect ourselves."

Logan slowly walks over to his, he is clearly weak from his ordeal. Jackson goes over to him, "Logan, give me your arm."

Mitch shakes his head, "Leave him."

Jamie nods, "Best idea ever."

"No." Jackson protests.

"He's gonna slow us down."

"I'm not leaving him."

The gate opens and Mitch turns from it to the group, "Less talking, more running."

As we head out into the moonlit jungle, we hear growling and roaring from somewhere within the trees. When we get to the fence I look up at the signs, "We're in section K."

"What the hell is section K?" Mitch looks over to me.

Dariela sighs, "Reece said it's where the Shepherds keep their mistakes."

I shake my head in confusion, "Mistakes? They have mistakes?"

We hear the distance roaring again, "Apparently. And a lot of them."

Abe moves his arm in front of everyone, "Get back." Abe throws the copper pine into the gate and breaks it open, when we all run through it we are stopped by two shepherds, "Freeze! Stay right where you are. Command, we got a problem at Section K, gate three."

As the man speaks over this walkie something rushes through the gate attacking the two men. They look like wolves with long spikes on their backs, We see our opportunity and take it. Running through the woods, Jackson while he is still helping Logan, makes sure I'm right in front of him at all time. "What the hell are those things?"

"They're the Shepherds' mistakes."

When we get to the plane, Dariela, Jamie, and I are the first to rush onboard, "Those wolf things are taking over the compound."

"We have to secure the plane."

"The Shepherds might be on board," Dariela shouts as she hands each of us guns that we keep in the cargo bay.

When we get into the lab the triple helix animals are gone, I sigh and run my fingers through my hair, "they're gone…"

Jamie, Jackson, and Logan come in after Mitch and I. Jackson helps Logan onto a table and Jamie looks around, "Oh what happened in here?"

I walk over to Logan, "shirt. Off."

As he pulls his shirt off he winces loudly, Jamie scoffs, "You know, for a mercenary, you have the pain threshold of a first grader."

Logan looks at his wound, it looks like one of those things, got him pretty good, "A mercenary? After all, we've been through, that's all you think I am?"

Jamie walks away, "I can think of a lot of other things to call you."

I put some gloves on and start to clean up Logan's wound. Mitch is digging through the cabinet, "Genomic fossil serum's gone."

Jackson looks over to him, "Mitch, I know that the serum cured me, but it killed my father. Are you sure it's safe for Clem?"

"The drug that Reiden gave Clem is a neuroprotectant. It'll stop the side effects of the serum. Reiden did something good for once."

Dariela and Abe walk into the lab, "Trotter's safe, plane's secure."

Mitch sighs, "Once that gas drops, we'll have less than 12 hours to get the serum to her. We are not leaving here without it."

I stop cleaning Logan's wound and looks to him, "You want to go back out there?"

"That is exactly what we're gonna do." Mitch rushes up the stairs.

As I resume cleaning Logan's wound Jackson sighs, "What was my father doing, working with the Shepherds?"

Abe shrugs, "Trying to heal the animals."

"Did those hybrid wolves look healed to you? This doesn't make any sense. What was he doing here?"

Dariela takes a deep breath, "If we're going after the serum, we'll need a way into that bunker."

"I don't know, Jackson. But right now we need to get that serum to Clementine." I look over to him and sigh.

Jackson nods before heading up the stairs to get Mitch. When they get back to the lab Jackson walks over and kisses me. "Mitch, Jamie, and I are going to go back to the compound of the serum. You guys stay here, wait for him," he points to Logan, "and get ready for take off."

Before any of us can protest the three of them leave. While I finish patching up Logan, Dariela turns on one of the tvs and we walk the News broadcast. "Clashes between civilians and the military continue in Moscow, where, nearly 14 hours after the release of the TX-14 gas, animals continue to roam the streets, unaffected. As tensions flare…"

Dariela turns it back off. "So the gas didn't kill the animals?"

"And we're out of the 12-hour window Robert talked about. It should have affected the animals in Russia by now."

"And what about the people like Clem, with the ghost gene? Why no reports of human deaths?"

Logan sighs, "Because people die all the time. Almost 250,000 people die every single day. That's just life. So, unless all 2.2 million people with this ghost gene drop dead in Times Square at the exact same time, it's not gonna be on the news."

I chuckle, "When did you start paying attention?"

"I'm smarter than I look."

"You'd have to be, just to hold a fork." Dariela chuckles.

"I was gonna say to walk." I look over my shoulder to her.

"Look, just because we didn't leave you to die in that cave doesn't mean we have forgotten about how you sold us out to Davies." Abe points to him.

"I get it. But I can make it up to you guys."

"How?"

"I can find Clementine."

"How can you do that?"

" Because I have military contacts, and not the regular channel kind that Dariela has. I just need to make a few calls. I just need a phone."

I step back and cross my arms, "What's in it for you?"

"I'm not a saint, but I pay my debts."

I chuckle, "You're fooling yourself if you think this will get you back on Jamie's good side."

"Well, maybe, maybe not, but it certainly beats sitting here watching the news."

Dariela and I step closer to Logan, "Jamie threw you off this plane. I can promise, if you're not being straight with us, we will make you wish for something as kind as that."

"Copy that."

Dariela hands Logan her phone and he goes back making his calls. Logan quickly gets someone of the phone, "Hey. Yeah, listen I need your helping finding someone, Clementine Lewis. age 11. Hold on. I have somebody who needs to confirm this."

He hands the phone to Dariela, "Hi, Could you repeat that? Uh-huh. Okay. I'll be sure to tell him. His Intel's good."

"I told you guys I pay my debts."

"He wanted me to tell you this was your last chit and This is important You should go screw yourself."

"And now he has paid his debt. That's how my world works. So are we good?"

I shake my head, "Only one person can answer that question. She's not here."

Abe steps over to Logan, "But this is most definitely a start."

Logan walks away and as he does Jamie and Jackson come in, "We found the genomic fossil serum."

Dariela nods, "And we got Clem's location. She's at a power plant outside Portland."

"Oh, that's amazing. Mitch is two minutes behind us. We have to head for Clem the second he gets back."

"Let's get this bird ready to fly."

As Dariela, Jackson, and Jamie walk away from Abe and I to get things ready, Abe's phone goes off, "Hello. What's happening? We're coming to get you. We can handle them. You're the leader of this team! Mitch? Okay. I will. I will. I promise." Abe hangs up the phone walks over to the intercom, "Trotter close the ramp. We're good to go.

I shake my head, "NO! No, we lost Chloe, we are not losing Mitch!" I try to make a run for the cargo bay but Abe grabs me. "You left him!" I calm down a bit and Abe lets me out.

When we head up stairs to the living room area Jamie looks to us confused, "Where's Mitch?"

"He called, and the hybrids They were after him, and they"

"And what?" Abe pauses and just looks down to the floor, "Did you leave him there?" Jamie walks to the intercom, "Trotter, turn the plane around. We have to go back."

Abe hits the intercom button, "Trotter, maintain course."

"Abraham, what have you done?"

"Jamie, he's gone. He wanted us to be safe. He wanted us to get to Clementine. And he was willing to die to make sure that happened. He wanted me to tell you, thank you."

"How could you let him?" Jamie starts to cry, as she dives into my arms.

Jackson shakes his head, "He knew. When he told us to leave the lab, he knew the hybrids were there."

I sigh, "We have to finish. We have to get to Clem. That's all that matters now."


	27. TX-14

Once we land in Portland, Maine the team heads to the center Logan's contact had told us Clementine had been taken to, as quickly as possible. When we get there we head up to the main level of the building where the survivors are being kept.

"We have 20 minutes to find Clem. So you guys check this area. Jamie, Kat, let's go this way." Jackson begins to coordinate our search."

"Okay," Abe nods before he and Dariela head off to look for Clementine.

As Jackson, Jamie, and I begin looking and asking around for Clementine. I begin to feel weak and fall behind Jamie and Jackson. I finally have to stop out of fear I'm going to pass out, but shortly after I do, I get a sharp pain in my lower abdomen and cry out in pain as I fall to the floor.

One of the volunteers rushes over to me, helping me sit against a nearby wall, "Ma'am are you alright?"

Before I can reply I hear Jackson, "Let me through, let me through, she's my wife." When Jackson kneels next to me and takes my hand, "hey, baby. It's okay." Jackson smiles at me, but I can tell by the look in his eyes he doesn't believe his own words. I shake my head and look down, only now noticing blood on the inner part of my jeans, I look up to Jackson terrified. Jackson turns to the group, "We need a Doctor over here. Now!" He shouts over the crowd, jumping up.

I reach up and grab his hand when he kneels back down to me I take a deep breath, "Go find Clementine. I'll be alright."

"Kat, no, I'm not leaving you."

I shake my head, "Go find Clementine, Jackson." I give Jackson a rather stern look and he nods, heading off with Jamie the second the doctor gets there.

The doctor and the volunteer who helped me to the wall help me up. Having noticed the blood when they got there the doctor wraps a blanket around me as we make our way to a medical cot. The doctor helps me as much as they can before running some tests. The volunteer was even nice enough to find me a change of clothes, for after we get the bleeding stopped.

After running the tests the doctor walks up to me, "Ma'am, were you expecting?"

I nod and close my eyes, trying to fight back tears. Robert's words, 'it's very likely that you will miscarry.' Did we not get the cure disrupted fast enough? Or was it the stress of everything finally taking its toll.

As the doctor takes a breath to continue Jackson rushes up to me, hugging me tightly when he gets to me, "Katherine, we found Clementine, everything is gonna be alright." I glance around him and see Jamie sitting at a table with Clementine, I remember her from when I helped Abe and Mitch save her and Audra from a flock of killer birds. I wonder if she remembers me.

The doctor looks over to Jackson, "Are you the husband?"

Jackson looks over to the doctor and nods, "Yes, what's going on?"

"Sir, I'm very sorry to have to tell you this but your wife has suffered a miscarriage…" the doctor takes a deep breath and looks down to me, "Now, your body has taken care of everything, so there is nothing else that needs to be done. Wait a few months and you two can try again." After that, the doctor walks away from the two of us.

Jackson looks down at the cot and shakes his head, he can't even look at me, "this was my fault. I couldn't produce the cure fast enough so we didn't get too out fast enough."

I shake my head, "No, Jackson if it was anyone's fault it was your fathers, for creating this mutation in the first place."

Jackson takes a deep breath and nods, "We need to get out of here and save the animals in quarantine."

I nod and begin to get up as Jackson grabs the curtain in the area the doctor had placed me in and pulls it closed. The volunteer had been able to grab me some jeans and a hoodie and at this point, I wasn't complaining.

Clementine and Jamie are waiting for Jackson and I, right outside the area. "Hey, is everything okay?" Jamie asked, placing her hand on my upper arm.

"It's fine, we have bigger things to worry about."

Jamie nods and we head back to the front of the building running into Abe and Dariela before he heads out to quarantine. As we approach there are people shouting and pounding on the fence.

"See? They want to kill the animals. You said you would help Henry!" Clementine shouts.

I nudge Jackson's arm, "Look, look, some of the birds from Pangaea. They made it."

Abe nods, "They will cure the animals."

Jamie looks over to Abe, "Those animals don't sound cured." The dogs in quarantine are barking and howling.

"Yeah, well, domesticated animals take their emotional cues from us," Jackson explains.

"Or maybe they want to rip our heads off."

I shrug, "Well, let's found out." I comment as I head to the side entrance of the building no one seems to be paying attention to.

The dogs are barking and jumping at the fences of the cages as we walk by. "Maybe we were wrong." Abe sighs. As we walk to see a cage with a small puppy in it, who is barking. Even if he is still a killer, he's so cute! "We have to find out if the cure really worked."

Abe opens up the gate and steps in, I shake my head, "Abe, if that thing kills you, it will prove my theory that you're a teddy bear."

Abe chuckles softly before approaching the dog. "Hey, boy. Hey." The puppy sniffs Abe's hand as he moves closer. "Hey. Come here." Abe pets the puppies head and smiles, undoing the leash he has on him, "Come here." The puppy climbs up Abe has he picks him up and begins to lick his face, "We did it."

Abe walks out of the cage and hands me to puppy, "Hey, hi there little guy." I scratch the little guy behind the ears as Jackson Dariela, and Abe grab some workers and begin to get the dogs out of the cages and onto leashes.

When we walk out with the dogs, the people shout angrily and points guys at the dogs and us. "Hey, no." Abe shouts, "The animals are cured. Come and see."

I snuggle with the puppy, "see."

The owns and dogs run to each other as the dogs are released, and the couple who own the puppy come and get him from me. "Thank you so much." The woman smiles as she kisses the puppy.

I turn and see Clementine's lab running to her, "Henry!"

I walk over to Jackson, "Mitch would've loved this."

Clementine smiles as she pets Henery, "He really did it. My dad cured all these animals. Where is he? Where's my dad?"

I take a deep breath, "Why don't we go back to your bunk and get the rest of your things, yeah?" Clementine nods, and we head back to the building they had been using to house people and Jamie and I sit with Clementine. "Listen, Clem. Your dad… your dad um... " I take a deep breath, "Clem, your dad sacrificed himself to make we would all get back if he hadn't none of us would be here. I'm so sorry."

Clem takes some shuddered breaths. "None of this seems real."

Jamie nods, "Yeah, I know what you mean. But you should know what your dad did. All of the animals are going to be cured because of him. Your dad saved the world."

"My dad gave me Henry when I was just a baby."

"I know."

"I used to pretend he still talked to my dad. That when I was sleeping at night, he would... he would go tell him how I was doing. And then he'd come back and tell me stuff about my dad. Just made-up stuff. Like he invented chocolate milk. 'Cause he was always inventing stuff."

Jamie nods, "Yeah, that he was."

"But it was all pretend. Henry didn't know my dad. Neither did I."

"Well, we knew your dad, and… he didn't invent chocolate milk, but he liked it. And he liked pickles and coffee."

"What else?"

"He loved Soundgarden. They were a band. Maybe they still are. Um And he loved crossword puzzles. He loved all puzzles, really. He couldn't sleep if there was a problem to solve. Like like the mystery of the missing cats in Brentwood. And he loved you. He loved you so, so much. You were the very last thing he thought about." Jamie holds Clementine as she cries.

"Why don't we go back to the plane and you can get settled in?" I look over to Clementine, who nods and grabs her things, along with Henry's leash.

When we get to the plane Clementine looks around, stopping at the desk in the lab. "Was this his desk?"

Jamie shrugs, "Actually, this... this was all his. Can I can I show you around?" Clementine nods, as she and Jamie go to explore the plane.

Clementine stops on the stairs, "Kat, aren't you coming?"

I smile up at her and shake my head, "I need to talk to your uncle Jackson about a few things first."

Clementine nods as she and Jamie finish climbing the stairs and I walk over to Jackson who is sitting in front of the computer. "What's wrong?"

"My dad's email. I want to see the email he claimed was the TX-14 gas formula."

"So, if we can get into his email, maybe we can find out exactly what he did."

"Exactly."

Jackson tries a few different passwords on the computer, "Come on. I have tried his birthday, his social security number. I tried our first address. I tried my birthday."

I lean in front of him and type on the computer, "But you haven't tired, Elizabeth."

"Of course. It's always been about her. How did you know?" Jackson looks up to me.

"Because most of your passwords are Katherine." I smile and chuckle softly.

"Hey, this is the TX-14 gas formula that my dad sent to Davies."

I hear Jamie from behind me as she and Logan enter the lab, "Wait, I've seen that before." She heads over to Mitch's desk and grabs Pierce's notebook as she does Abe and Dariela come down the stairs. "They're the same."

Dariela walks up to us, "What is that?"

Jackson takes a deep breath as Jamie hands him the notebook. "this is what Pierce used to fix the animals in 1895. He sterilized them. You know, wiped them out."

Abe shakes his head, "What does that mean? The formula your dad sent to Davies is to sterilize the animals again?"

I sigh, "No. The neutralizer protects the animals. Which means they sterilized us. All of mankind."

"Sterilized? As in nobody's having any more babies?" Logan looks over to me.

As I nod, Dariela looks over to me, "Out children could be some of the last children born."

I sigh and shake my head, "Unless it's already too late."

As I look down I hear Jamie gasp, "Oh, my God, Kat. I'm so sorry."

Jackson sighs, "My father always said that one day, the animals would reclaim the planet. He made sure that the TX gas formula helped them to do that."

Logan scoffs, "Yeah, by eliminating us."

"My father just ended the world."

I take a deep breath and hug Jamie as tears stream down my face. Not only was my father-in-law the reason I lost my baby, but he was also the reason Jackson and I were never going to have one.

After a few moments I head upstairs, I don't really want to be around anyone right now, so I head up to the bar and grab a drink.

As I finish, my second glass of sangria Dariela comes in, "Hey, how are you feeling?"

I sigh, "Well, I'm not used to wearing pads so I feel like I have a burrito between my legs. But I'll be okay. Eventually."

Dariela nods, "You know, Abe and I are gonna need help raising this little one and Clementine is gonna need us too."

I nod, "I know. I have a family who needs me and loves me."

"Yes, you do. "


	28. Wedding

It has been about a year since Abe, Dariela, Jackson, and I had arrived back in Africa. Dariela had given birth to a beautiful baby boy, named Isaac, and he looks just like his Abe. Jackson and I had managed to plan a wedding even though we had been helping rebuild what we had in Botswana. Dariela had moved down to Africa after everything was over and it had been nice having someone I was close to, other than the boys.

The week before the wedding Jamie had come down with Logan and Clementine. Jamie and Logan had gotten together surprisingly and even got engaged. Clementine lived with Jamie and Logan since Jamie was the closest to Mitch, but they came down to visit for Christmas. The boys had been making sure everything is step up for the big day.

When the day comes I wake up bright and early. It's odd not waking up next to Jackson and even weirder thinking that in a few hours I will be Mrs. Jackson Oz. As soon as I get up I start to get ready. As I start with my hair, Jamie comes into the bedroom. Jackson had spent the night at Abe and Dariela's. When she comes in she sits a plate of eggs and toast next to me.

"I know you're stressed, but we gotta make sure you eat something. You eat, I'll do your hair."

I sigh and nod, eating some of the food as Jamie starts to work on my hair. Before long Clementine comes in with Dariela. "Hey, Kat!" Clem smiles as she walks in.

"Hi Clem, are you ready to be my flower girl?"

"Of course," Clem comments with a smirk. I can see why Mitch was so extra protective of me when we were working together if you didn't know any better you'd think Clem and I were really related. "So what are we gonna do with my hair?"

"Why don't you get changed into your dress and we can do your hair when you get back."

Clem nods and smiles, heading to the closet, where her, Dariela, and Jamie's dresses are. Clem is going to walk down the aisle with Isaac, since he is going to be my ring bearer, and Dariela and Jamie are my bridesmaids. Jackson had picked Abe and Logan as his groomsmen. The girls are going to walk down the aisle alone.

When Clem comes back from getting dressed, Jamie is finished with my hair. So I trade places with Jamie and start on Clem's hair. "So do you want it curled, do you want it braided, what?"

Clem thinks for a moment, "Curled."

I smile and nod before I start curling Clem's hair. Jamie and Dariela get dressed and start on their makeup and hair, "Hey, Kat. Did you want us to wear the pink lipstick or the red?"

"Pink, it matches everyone's skin tone better."

"You got it." Dariela nods as she finished up her makeup. When I finish Clem's hair, Jamie and Dariela help me into my dress. It's not that it's hard to get on, but it is a mermaid and it has a lace up back, so I need a little help.

Once the dress is on I put my makeup on, before looking in my floor length mirror. As I stand there Jamie walks over and puts her head on my shoulder. "You look perfect..."

I take a deep breath and nod, "I wish Mitch was here…"

Jamie nods, "me too…"

Dariela takes a deep breath, "Yeah, so do I…"

Before long we hear a knock on the door, "Is everyone decent?" Abe calls out as he slowly opens the door.

"As long as Jackson's not out there with you." Dariela comments. Before her husband pokes her head into the room.

As his eyes look over all of us, he smiles, "You all look beautiful. We are ready to start if you ladies are."

We nod and head out. Since we are having an outdoor wedding we have some screens set up in the back so that Jackson can't see me until I start down the aisle. Abe and Logan head up to the altar to stand with Jackson and wait for us before we head down the aisle.

Jamie first, then Dariela, then Clem and Isaac, and finally me. When I turn the corner to start down the aisle I see the girls, in their long, dark purple dresses, flowing in the wind. When my gaze moves to Jackson it's like I can't see anyone else in the world. As I walk down the aisle Jackson smiles and his eyes begin to tear up, as do the girls' and the boys'.

When our ceremony is over, we have the reception in a dance hall that hadn't been destroyed during the animal revolution. As the nice goes on we start with the speeches, Logan going first.

"Uh… excuse me, everyone…" Logan speaks into the mic and clears his throat as everyone looks at him. "Uhh… When I met Jackson and Katherine we were trying to find a cure for the animals. Well, they were, I was lying to them and the whole team. But… even after that, they still accepted me into their family. They accepted me and gave me another chance and that really speaks volumes to the type of people Jackson and Katherine surround themselves with. They are some of the best people I have ever known and they haven't let anything stop them. Nor do I think they ever will… So… To Kat and Jackson."

Jamie is the next to go up.

"Like Logan, I didn't know Kat and Jackson until we were brought together to save the world. But we quickly became a family. Jackson or Katherine was always positive, even if the other one couldn't be. They knew that if we all gave up that it would be over. They fought to keep our family together on more than one occasion and did whatever it took to keep us together. So, I guess what I really wanna say is Thank you. When I met the group, I didn't have a family and I was alone in the world. But thanks to you guys, I have a fiance, a niece and a nephew, sisters, and even brothers. So thank you for showing me that I have a family, no matter what."

Dariela is the next to give her speech or toast, which they want to cause it.

"When I met Jackson and Katherine I had just lost my unit, the only family I thought I had, and when I came on board to help the team, I didn't know that I would fall in love with every single one of them. Not only did I find my husband, but I found sisters and brothers as well. I know that we have had our ups and downs. But hey, what family doesn't right? But no matter what we have gone through, we always come through for each other when it counts. Jackson and Katherine taught all of us, that family isn't who you're born to, but who you love, who loves you, and who you would die to protect. During our adventure Kat and Jackson put their own lives a risk so many times for the safety of the group and are two of the most amazing people I have ever met, so I wish you all the luck in your future and I pray that someday you will be able to add to our family, because you two deserve that and so much more."

Abe goes next.

"Unlike many of our friends, I knew Jackson and Katherine from the beginning. Having grown up with Jackson, I never thought he would settle down. But the day he met Kat, I knew I was wrong. When Kat visited our camp in Botswana during a family vacation, I knew I had lost my best friend. I knew I had lost him to a woman who would never let him lose his way. A woman, who would make sure that he never took everything he had for granted, and a woman who would make sure that he knew his own worth. Katherine, I don't think there is a better person out there for Jackson, I have seen the two of you fight, I have seen you two head over heels, and I have seen you two in the best of times and in the worst, but I never thought you two wouldn't make it. I knew that you two would stick with each other to the end. You two have brought this family together and you are the glue that holds us together and I know that… I know that Mitch would say the same if he were here… with us today…" Abe's voice starts to break as he finishes his speech.

When Abe finishes Jackson heads up to give his wedding speech.

"Uh… hi everyone… I'm not sure what else there is to say, our family seems to have said it all." He chuckles softly before taking a deep breath, "Katherine, you have been with me through the loss of my mother, the loss of my father, the loss of our child, and the loss of one of our close friends. But you have been nothing, if not resilient through it all. You were the rock that the rest of us looked to in our times of crisis. And I hope I give you half of the support you have given us over the years, if I can do that, I know we'll have a happy life together."

I smile up at Jackson as I eyes fill with tears. Before I head up to give my speech.

"Hi, everyone, I knew you're probably tired of speeches right now, but don't worry, I'm the last one… I also know that it isn't traditional for the whole wedding party to give speeches, but our family is nothing but untraditional… Everyone in my family has come up here and told Jackson and I are the reason they are here. That we brought them together and held us together. But what they fall to realize is that we would be nothing without them… We wouldn't be able to do half of what he did without them… And…" I take a deep breath, "And without two members of our family sacrificing themselves for us, we wouldn't be there…" I look down, "But I know that they did it in love and that's what we are here to celebrate today. Not just the love Jackson and I have from one another, but for the love, we have for every single person in this room."

As I step down from the stage Jackson walks up to me and kisses me deeply, placing his hands on my cheeks. "I love you so much, Mrs. Oz."

"I love you, Mr. Oz."

As Jackson and I chuckle softly together, I hear Abe on one of the mics. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I believe it is time for the married couples first dance."

I smile up to Jackson as he takes my hand and leads me out to the middle of the floor. As Jackson looks up to Abe and a slow song begins to play.

 _When I look into your eyes,_

 _It's like watching the night sky._

 _Or a beautiful sunrise_

There's so much they hold

 _And just like them old stars,_

 _I see that you've come so far._

 _To be right where you are._

 _How old is your soul?_

 _Well, I won't give up on us._

 _Even if the skies get rough._

 _I'm given you all of my love_

 _I'm still looking up._

 _ **(I Won't Give Up. By Jason Marz)**_

Jackson and I dance with our foreheads together, I chuckle softly, "Just like lions."

"Yeah, just like lions." Jackson laughs and nods before he starts to sing along.

 _even the stars they burn_

 _some even fall to the Earth_

 _We've got a lot to learn_

 _God knows we're worth it._

 _no, I won't give up._


End file.
